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Although The London club avoided a total demolition of their prospects of finishing in the highest eight places of the continental tournament opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own hopes of automatically qualifying for the round of 16. Of course, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped tournament, achieving a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Issue: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been widely discussed following their defeat in Bergamo. After apparently rubber-stamping their credentials with an commanding victory of a European giant, and then a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, Chelsea have been defeated by Leeds, played out a dull draw at the south coast club and have now been beaten by a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

Although critics have been quick to lay the blame on a team selection approach that appears to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the Chelsea head coach insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his first eleven for big matches is mostly fixed.

“In my view in that game, starting team, we had on the field eight, nine players that play against Spurs, they played against Barca, they played against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he droned. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. So if you see the several alterations that we did compared to previous game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to be victorious in their remaining two matches. In the first, they host this season’s surprise package Pafos, then travel back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we will face the extra round and then go to the following stage,” sniffed Maresca, whose following fixture is a game against an Everton team whose current form has taken to them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Notable Comment: “It's interesting, it’s somewhat ironic because his greatest wish was me turning pro in golf. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he pushed me to take up golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland explained how, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any regular reader of this column will know, the only good pre-match protests involve marching from a pub that the supporters planned to be at anyway, to the ground that they were always going to. Just showing up 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – one reader.

“I note that a reader not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could the city be proving that the frequency of representation in your letters section is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.