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Although The London club avoided a total demolition of their chances of ending up in the highest eight places of the continental tournament group stage, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own hopes of strolling directly into the knockout stages. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped tournament, achieving a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Issue: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon since their loss in Bergamo. Since apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an commanding victory of a European giant, followed by a feisty stalemate with Arsenal, Chelsea have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now been beaten by a average team from Serie A.

Although critics have been quick to lay the blame on a team selection approach that seems to see Enzo Maresca rotate his team constantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his starting lineup for big matches is largely set in stone.

“In my view tonight, first XI, we had on the field the majority of the team that play against Spurs, they played against Barca, they played against Wolves, the Gunners,” he droned. “We had most of the regulars that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you look at the five changes that we did compared to Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they host this season’s surprise package Pafos, before heading back to the continent to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“Victories in both are required, otherwise, we will face the playoff and then progress to the next round,” sniffed Maresca, whose following fixture is a game against an Merseyside team whose current form has propelled them to the dizzy heights of the top half in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he forced me to start on golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland revealed how, had his dad got his way, he could have been on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Fan Correspondence

“So, no wonder Wolves are in such a sad state. As any longtime reader of this email will know, the only effective pre-match protests involve walking from a public house that the supporters planned to be at anyway, to the ground that they were inevitably going to. Just arriving 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 name check in a separate letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could the city be proving that the regularity of appearances in your letters section is inversely proportional to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – another fan.