CHRIS OF LIFE FOR CHELSEA

Beleaguered club win but are not even on the telly

- Mike Walters

EVEN basket cases occasionally manage to weave the wicker strands together neatly enough.

After 16 months without European football at Stamford Bridge, Christopher Nkunku's penalty and Noni Madueke's slick finish made the Swiss roll over and proved that absence makes the heart grow fondue.

The Enzo Maresca era is up and running, and on this evidence they will have more than enough quality to sail through their Europa Conference League play-off second leg next Thursday. If they made heavy weather of it at times, the smattering of boos at half-time was harsh.

But it is a measure of how far Chelsea have slipped that their maiden voyage in competition was not on TV.

The Blues won the the 2021 Champions League in 2021, now they are going head-tohead with Smorgasbord Rovers and Eskimo Park Rangers. And it still was not a ringing endorsement of the spend, spend, spend regime.