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While The London club avoided a total demolition of their prospects 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 round of 16. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the recently revamped tournament, securing a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Central Issue: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon following their loss in Bergamo. After apparently rubber-stamping their credentials with an commanding victory of a European giant, followed by a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, Chelsea have been stuffed by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now lost against a average team from Italy's top flight.

Although critics have been quick to lay the blame on a team selection approach that appears to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup incessantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his first eleven for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“In my view in that game, starting team, we had inside the pitch eight, nine players that featured against Tottenham, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolves, Arsenal,” he droned. “There were most of the regulars that are the ones consistently selected for these kind of games. So if you look at the five changes that we did from the previous game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to be victorious in their remaining two matches. First up, they welcome the unexpected contenders Pafos, before heading back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“We need to win both, if not, we will face the extra round and then progress to the next round,” sniffed Maresca, whose following fixture is a match against an Everton team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the surprising position of the top half in the Premier League.

Side Stories

Notable Comment: “You know, it’s somewhat ironic because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. 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 revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolves are in such a poor situation. As any longtime reader of this email will know, the only good pre-match protests involve marching from a pub that the supporters planned to be at 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” – a correspondent.

“I see that one correspondent not only got the previous featured letter, but also a mention in a separate letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield be proving that the frequency of representation in your mailbag is inversely proportional to the value of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – another fan.