'They shouldn't be in it' - are Chelsea too big for Conference League?

Chelsea broke a Conference League record with their demolition of Noah – and left observers wondering what they are even doing in the tournament.

The Blues have improved significantly under Enzo Maresca from the side which sneaked into Uefa’s third tournament at the end of last season.

And even though they are playing their second string in the tournament – with star player Cole Palmer not even registered – they are blowing everyone away.

Thursday's 8-0 victory broke the previous Conference League record win - held jointly by three teams - by two goals.

After three games they have scored 16 goals, twice the total of the next best team.

"Chelsea shouldn’t be in this competition but this is where they are," said former Blues midfielder Joe Cole on TNT Sport.

"This tournament doesn’t start for Chelsea until the quarter-finals or semi-finals. They are massive favourites to win it and they should be."

Former England striker Peter Crouch felt just as strongly.

"Looking at some of the names, I just don’t see how they can lose this tournament," he said.

The Blues, who would become the first team to win the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League should they go all the way, are ranked eighth in Uefa’s club rankings.

Armenian side FC Noah – founded just seven years ago – are 311th in the list.

Transfermarkt puts the value of the entire Noah squad at £6.5m – compared to Chelsea’s £800m-rated squad.

Chelsea are fortunate to even be in Europe this season. They won their final five Premier League games under Mauricio Pochettino to finish sixth and get a Conference League play-off spot.

For much of the season it appeared they were going to finish mid-table.

And they only just came through their play-off to qualify for this phase, beating Servette 3-2 on aggregate with the Swiss side missing late chances to force extra-time.

Already favourites to win the tournament before it started, they opened with a 4-2 home win over Gent, before winning 4-1 at Panathinaikos.

Chelsea are now odds-on favourites to win the entire tournament with the bookmakers, a remarkable state of affairs at this early stage of the competition.

They sit top of the table on nine points, three clear in the automatic qualification places – and already six points above the elimination spots with three games to go.

Joining them in the top eight are German side Heidenheim and Irish side Shamrock Rovers, who are among their three remaining opponents, alongside Astana.

Chelsea are not the first big team in the tournament, far from it, but none of the three previous winners have won the European Cup.

Roma beat Feyenoord in the first season’s final, with Fiorentina losing the other two finals – against West Ham in 2023 and Olympiakos last season.

Tottenham, the Hammers and Aston Villa have been England’s representatives.

Roma and Villarreal are the only two clubs in Uefa's current top-10 ranked clubs, alongside Chelsea, to feature in it.

Maresca’s side are not the first dominant team in the Conference League either. Fiorentina scored 37 goals in 2022-23 before losing to the Hammers in Prague.

The format may have changed – with one big league table instead of multiple four-team groups – but there are still six games to be played by each team.

Chelsea are only two goals away from the record scored in a group stage – the 18 notched by Jose Mourinho’s eventual winners Roma in 2021.

Club Brugge’s record group stage goal difference of 12 also looks set to be beaten with Chelsea already one goal better than that.

Chelsea did get the Conference League record score but they fell some way short of their own club record in Europe, a 13-0 Cup Winners’ Cup victory over Luxembourg side Jeunesse Hautcharage in 1971.

This 8-0 ranks as their joint second highest win, alongside three other games.

With Chelsea leading 6-0 against Noah at half-time, and the Armenians looking like they could concede every time there was an attack, the only surprise was that they only scored twice more.

Maresca was asked afterwards if he was disappointed not to break their record.

"You have to be serious," he said. "It is never easy. It is most important we are serious and professional. We needed to show that."

Noah's Portuguese boss Rui Mota said: "It's hard to take, 8-0. We know that Chelsea are on another level as a team, but still, we wanted to do better.

"If we didn't concede so early in the game or maybe after two minutes when we had a very good chance, if we had scored a goal, things would be different.

"Congratulations to Chelsea, they were very strong."

Chelsea defender Tosin Adarabioyo, who opened the scoring with his first goal for the club, said: "We're in the competition to win it.

"Any competition we're in, we strive for the best and this competition we definitely want to win."

Chelsea's huge squad has seen a situation where they can change their entire team - and still put out a high-quality starting line-up.

Maresca has changed his entire starting team from the previous game for all of Chelsea's three Conference League games - and their two Carabao Cup matches.

Among the side are £52m Christopher Nkunku, who scored twice against Noah to take his season tally to 10. He is Chelsea's top scorer despite only starting one Premier League game.

Joao Felix, who also scored two, is the joint top scorer with four in the Conference League - along with Nkunku and Jagiellonia's Afimico Pululu.

But to get into the Premier League team they would have to get past players like Palmer, England winger Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson, who has scored six goals.

Captain Enzo Fernandez, who started the season in the Premier League team but has been a substitute the past three games, started - and set up three goals.

He was replaced at the break with Maresca saying it was just a "technical decision".

Chelsea, who are fourth in the Premier League table, face London rivals Arsenal on Sunday - and could Fernandez set to be a rare name to keep his place?