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While The London club didn't entirely destroy their prospects of finishing in the highest eight places of the European competition opening phase, they executed a targeted blow on their own hopes of automatically qualifying for the knockout stages. Of course, the silver lining is that in the brief history of the recently revamped tournament, achieving a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Core Problem: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon since their loss in Italy. Since apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, followed by a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, the team have been stuffed by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a average team from Italy's top flight.

Although critics have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that appears to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup constantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is largely set in stone.

“I think in that game, starting team, we had on the field the majority of the team that play against Spurs, they play 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 see the several alterations that we did from the Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

The Path Forward

For a genuine opportunity of escaping the additional knockout round, they will have to win their remaining two matches. First up, they host the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, before heading back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, the Neapolitan side.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we try to play the extra round and then go to the following stage,” remarked Maresca, whose next appointment is a match against an Merseyside team whose current form has taken to them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the Premier League.

Other Notes

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 practiced 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 tearing it up in the top flight.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolves are in such a poor situation. As any longtime reader of this column will know, the only effective pre-match protests involve walking from a public house that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the stadium 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 one correspondent not only got the previous featured letter, but also a mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield once more dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the frequency of appearances in your mailbag is inversely proportional to the success of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.