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While The Blues avoided a total demolition of their chances of finishing in the top eight of the continental tournament group stage, they performed a precise, surgical strike on their own hopes of strolling directly into the knockout stages. Of course, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped competition, achieving a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Central Problem: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed since their defeat in Bergamo. After apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, followed by a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, the team have been defeated by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now been beaten by a average team from Italy's top flight.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that seems to see the coach rotate his team constantly, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is largely set in stone.

“I think tonight, first XI, we had inside the pitch eight, nine players that featured against Spurs, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he droned. “We had most of the regulars that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. So if you look at the five changes that we did compared to previous game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to win their remaining two matches. First up, they welcome the unexpected contenders Pafos, then travel back to the continent to face the Italian title holders, the Neapolitan side.

“Victories in both are required, otherwise, we will face the playoff and then progress to the following stage,” sniffed Maresca, whose next appointment is a game against an Everton team whose recent consistency has propelled them to the surprising position of seventh in the domestic league.

Other Notes

Notable Comment: “It's interesting, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he forced me to take up golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a sad state. As any regular reader of this email will know, the only effective pre-match protests involve walking from a public house that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the ground that they were inevitably going to. Just showing up 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – a correspondent.

“I see that one correspondent not only got the previous featured letter, but also a name check in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield once more surrendered points after leading, I am led to ponder: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of representation in your mailbag is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.