Italian referee announced for Servette vs Chelsea UECL 2nd Leg Playoff Clash

UEFA have officially announced Marco di Bello as the referee for the Servette v Chelsea Conference League Playoff (2nd Leg) clash on Thursday. The 43-year-old Di Bello will have fellow Italians Alessandro Giallatini and Giovanni Baccini as his assistant refs, with Luca Zufferli as the fourth referee and Gianluca Aureliano on VAR duty. Chelsea lead 2-0 from the first leg.

While Di Bello has never previously refereed a Chelsea or Servette game as the main ref, he was on VAR duty when Servette drew 0-0 with Ludogorets in the UECL last season (February 2024)

The last UEFA game Di Bello refereed before this Chelsea clash with a 4-3 away win for Malmo at PAOK in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League earlier this month.

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EPL Table After Week 2 (24-25 season)- Chelsea jump from 17th to 8th

Click here for PL log after Week 3 next round as of September 1 2024

Here is a look at the Premier League Table for the current 2024/25 season after Week 2, and comparing it to the standings as of Week 1.

Chelsea, as you can see, are the biggest movers up the table- they were 17th in the standings at the end of GW1 and are now in 8th spot after GW2 courtesy of their 6-2 win away at Wolves.

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Palmer in central role does a Fabregas, 4 ATB not working for Wolves- Talking points from WWFC vs Chelsea 2024

Noni Madueke scored a stunning fourteen-minute hat trick that saw Chelsea hammer Wolves 6-2 at Molineux on Sunday afteroon. Most pundits felt pre-game that it was a draw or even a Wolves win, and the game was competitive till the interval (2-2) before the home side fell apart early in the second half.

Here are our talking points from the clash.

Cole Palmer in a central role does a Fabregas

There have been many folks asking for Cole Palmer to play in a more central role, and the forward showed what he was capable of in that position, racking up a hat-trick of assists for Noni Madueke in a 14 minute period in the second half.

Palmer became the first Chelsea player to achieve a PL assist hat-trick since Cesc Fabregas did so over 8 years ago (in April 2016 v Bournemouth to be precise).

He also scored a wonderful individual goal, although some pundits felt it should’ve been disallowed because the ball wasn’t stationary.

Cole Palmer goal Wolves

Madueke stars on the wing for the Blues

Noni Madueke was a constant threat down the right wing for Chelsea- the first shot of the game came from him in the 2nd minute (and the Blues scored from the resulting corner seconds later).

Palmer and Madueke combined very well and made life tough for Rayan Ait-Nouri, who was playing left back for Wolves. All three of Madueke’s goals came in the same area of the pitch.

In the process, Madueke became the 6th youngest Chelsea player to score an EPL hat trick (22y 168d), and it’s only the 5th time that a Premier League hat trick has had the same player assisting all the goals.

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