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While The London club avoided a total demolition of their chances of finishing in the highest eight places of the continental tournament group stage, they performed a precise, surgical strike on their own chances of strolling directly into the round of 16. Of course, the good news is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, securing a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Issue: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed following their loss in Bergamo. After seemingly confirming their quality with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, and then a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, Chelsea have been defeated by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now lost against a average team from Serie A.

Although critics have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that appears to see Enzo Maresca rotate his team incessantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his first eleven for games against strong opposition is largely set in stone.

“I think tonight, starting team, we had on the field the majority of the team that featured against Spurs, they play against Barca, they play against Wolverhampton, Arsenal,” he droned. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. So if you look at the five changes that we did from the previous game, it’s different.”

The Path Forward

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the additional knockout round, Chelsea will have to be victorious in their remaining two matches. In the first, they host the unexpected contenders Pafos, before heading back to Italy 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 the Italian coach, whose following fixture is a match against an Everton team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the dizzy heights of the top half in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Notable Comment: “It's interesting, it’s actually funny because his greatest wish was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his ultimate ambition. 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 revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been teeing off rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Fan Correspondence

“So, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a sad state. As any longtime reader of this email will know, the only good pre-match protests involve marching from a public house that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the stadium 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 another reader's letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield once more surrendered points after leading, I am wondering: could the city be proving that the regularity of representation in your letters section is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – another fan.