Chelsea will be looking to extend a 29-year streak when they square off against Gent in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night.
Chelsea will be bidding to extend a 29-year streak when they square off against Gent in the Europa Conference League.
Having edged their way through the playoff round versus Servette, the Blues are now the clear favourites to lift the trophy at the end of the season.
There have been times during the early stages of Enzo Maresca‘s reign where Chelsea have looked far from convincing, particularly in defence.
However, Saturday’s 4-2 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League made it four consecutive wins in all competitions.
Ahead of the October international break, Chelsea face two more home fixtures against Gent as well as Nottingham Forest in domestic action.
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Chelsea eager to extend streak started in 1995
Maresca and his players will be firmly focused on recording a statement victory against a side in Gent who sit in third place in Belgium’s top flight after nine matches.
Gent have lost three times during that period, although they did impressively record a 2-0 aggregate triumph over Partizan Belgrade in the playoff round of this competition.
Nevertheless, Wouter Vrancken‘s side will be looking to become the first Belgian team since 1995 to record a win over Chelsea in European competition.
The last team to do so were Club Brugge, who prevailed 1-0 in the first leg of a Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-final before losing the second leg at Stamford Bridge by a 2-0 scoreline.
A further four matches have since been played between Chelsea and Belgian opposition, each of which came in the Champions League but the last of which occurred in 2011.
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How have the other four games panned out?
Back in 2005-06 in what was Jose Mourinho‘s second season of his first reign, Chelsea were drawn alongside Liverpool, Real Betis and Anderlecht in the Champions League group stages.
Chelsea would win 1-0 in the game at Stamford Bridge courtesy of a 19th-minute Frank Lampard goal, while Hernan Crespo and Ricardo Carvalho got on the scoresheet in the first 15 minutes on away territory.
Meanwhile, in 2011-12 in the same competition, Chelsea would be handed two group matches with Genk, winning the first of those by a 5-0 scoreline with Fernando Torres netting a double.
However, Genk would surprise Chelsea in the reverse fixture, earning a 1-1 draw courtesy of Jelle Vossen cancelling out Ramires’ first-half opener.
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