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While The London club didn’t completely torpedo their prospects of finishing in the top eight of the continental tournament opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own chances of automatically qualifying for the round of 16. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the recently revamped competition, securing a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Concern: A Predictable Inconsistency

Unfortunately 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 loss in Bergamo. Since seemingly confirming their credentials with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, and then a feisty stalemate with a London rival, the team have been defeated by a Championship side, played out a dull draw at the south coast club and have now been beaten by a mid-table side from Serie A.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a team selection approach that seems to see Enzo Maresca rotate his team like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the manager 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, starting team, we had on the field the majority of the team that featured against Tottenham, they played against Barca, they played against Wolves, Arsenal,” 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 additional knockout round, Chelsea 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.

“We need to win both, if not, we try to play the playoff and then progress to the next round,” sniffed Maresca, whose next appointment is a game against an Everton team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the surprising position of the top half in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Notable Comment: “It's interesting, it’s actually funny because his greatest wish 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 practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland explained how, if his father had his preference, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any regular reader of this email will know, the only effective 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 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 letter o’ the day, but also a mention in a separate letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more dropped points after leading, I am led to ponder: could the city be proving that the regularity of appearances in your letters section is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – another fan.