There was an early sense of deja vu in Geneva, as just like the first leg in London last week, Nkunku opened the scoring with a well-taken penalty, this time after Mykhailo Mudryk had done well to win possession in the opposition box and been tripped.

Unfortunately, we were not able to maintain that lead until half-time, as a quick Servette counter ended with Jeremy Guillemenot beating Filip Jorgensen one-on-one. Things then got a bit nervy for the Blues, when Enzo Crivelli headed the Swiss into the lead on the night in the second half.

Chelsea stood firm to make sure our aggregate lead was held, though, and we could even have extended our advantage when Nicolas Jackson had a goal ruled out and Cole Palmer hit the bar.

The selection

It was a similar line-up in Switzerland to the one which triumphed 2-0 over Servette in the first leg, with Jorgensen between the posts. The defence also lined up the same, as Axel Disasi, Tosin Adarabioyo, Benoit Badiashile and Renato Veiga took their places in the back line.

The first of two changes came in midfield, where Enzo Fernandez replaced Moises Caicedo alongside Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, with the Argentine captaining the team. Ahead of them, Noni Madueke came in for Pedro Neto, who did not travel as a precaution, joining Mudryk and Nkunku in supporting striker Marc Guiu.

Advantage extended early on

Chelsea kicked things off just after sunset on a warm evening in Geneva. However, a badly worn pitch meant it wasn’t an ideal surface, especially at the end we were attacking in the first half, as shown by early slips by Madueke and Mudryk.

There was less than four minutes on the clock when the Servette goalkeeper was tested or the first time, palming a Fernandez snapshot away from the top corner, before Badiashile’s close-range effort was blocked from the resulting set-piece.

It wasn’t long before we turned our dominance into an opportunity. Mudryk showed persistence to nick the ball away from Keigo Tsunemoto in the box after Veiga’s first-time pass upfield, and the Japanese defender’s follow-through felled the Blues winger.

The referee pointed straight to the spot and the rest was never in doubt, as Nkunku stepped up and fired into the bottom-left corner. Just like the first leg at the Bridge, the opening goal had arrived via a clinical Nkunku penalty.

With our lead now stretched to three goals on aggregate, Chelsea were understandably in no hurry, keeping possession and dictating the game, happy to be patient and try to restrict Servette’s chances to pull one back, a dangerous and wasted free-kick from our left aside.

When we picked our moment, there was some lovely flowing football on display from the Blues on the attack. One of those resulted in Nkunku breaking free in the box and teeing up Madueke, but the winger’s left-footed drive was charged down.

As you were

Unfortunately, just after the half-hour mark, Servette did claw a goal back to return our advantage to the original two goals. This time it was Guiu to fall foul of the pitch and slip, allowing Gael Ondoua to charge upfield and play in Guillemenot to finish low past Jorgensen.

The home fans had been given very little encouragement up to that point, but were in full voice now as the Servette players clearly grew in confidence after their goal. Regardless, we tried to hit straight back and Nkunku was nearly away, but was under heavy pressure as he tried to shoot and the keeper was able to rush out and smother.

There was relief just before half-time when a lucky ricochet released Dereck Kutesa behind the Chelsea defence down the left, as his shot lacked power and Jorgensen was able to save, before Guillemenot missed the target on the rebound. As it was, we went in for half-time with the two-goal lead we took into the game still intact, even if we had lost a measure of the control we had enjoyed earlier in the match.

Trying to see it through

Jorgensen was called into action right at the start of the second half, doing well to save at close range after a Servette free-kick was helped on into the box, but the offside flag then went up anyway so it wouldn't have counted. At the other end, Guiu fired wide with an acrobatic attempt.

That prompted a surprisingly end-to-end opening to the second period, as Mudryk and Dewsbury-Hall both threatened and Veiga had a shot blocked in the box. Before long things settled down to some prolonged spells of Chelsea possession, broken up by the occasional attempt to counter by Servette. There was little to worry Jorgensen during that period.

Enzo Maresca injected some energy into the side with a triple substitution just over an hour in, Moises Caicedo and Nicolas Jackson being introduced, as well as a senior debut for teenage winger Tyrique George, who was an unused substitute on three occasions last term and joined the senior squad for our pre-season tour.

Aggregate lead cut

It wasn't the easiest introduction for the youngster, as with just under 20 minutes remaining Servette made one of their breaks count, when substitute striker Crivelli rose high to meet a cross from the right and beat Jorgensen with a near-post header.

We were behind on the night but still had a one-goal advantage over the two legs. Jackson thought he'd eased any nerves when he slotted low into the back of the net, but he was offside, and then Cole Palmer hit the crossbar with a clever dinked effort.

Thankfully we were able to maintain the aggregate lead until the final whistle even without a bigger cushion, despite the distraction of a lengthy pause in play due to fireworks display in the home end of the stadium. As a result, our qualification for the Conference League proper is now secured and Chelsea's name will be in tomorrow's draw for the new-for-2024 league phase.

What's next

It is back to Stamford Bridge and Premier League action at the weekend, when Chelsea will host Crystal Palace at 1.30pm on Sunday 1 September.

The teams

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Jorgensen; Disasi, Tosin, Badiashile, Veiga; Fernandez (c) (Caicedo 63), Dewsbury-Hall; Madueke (George 63), Nkunku, Mudryk (Palmer 75); Guiu (Jackson 63)
Unused subs: Sanchez, Bettinelli, Acheampong, Colwill, Cucurella
Scorer: Nkunku pen 14
Booked: Badiashile 18, Jackson 74, Veiga 85

Servette (4-4-1-1): Mall; Tsunemoto, Rouiller, Severin, Mazikou; Cognat, Ondoua, Douline, Kutesa; Antunes (Crivelli 63); Guillemenot (Stevanovic 63)
Unused subs: Frick, Besson, Baron, Vonmoos, Magnin, Simbakoli, Sawadogo, Weber, Ouattara, Srdanovic
Scorers: Guillemenot 32, Crivelli 71
Booked: Severin 9, Crivelli 64, Douline 66