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While The Blues didn't entirely destroy their hopes of ending up in the top eight of the European competition opening phase, they executed a targeted blow on their own hopes of strolling directly into the knockout stages. Of course, the good news is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, achieving a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Problem: A Predictable Inconsistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed following their loss in Bergamo. Since apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, followed by a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, the team have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a dull draw at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a average team from Serie A.

While critics have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that seems to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his first eleven for big matches is largely set in stone.

“I think tonight, starting team, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that featured against Spurs, they play against Barcelona, they played against Wolves, the Gunners,” he droned. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. So if you see the several alterations that we did from the Bournemouth game, it’s different.”

The Path Forward

To have any realistic chance of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to be victorious in their final two group games. First up, they host the unexpected contenders Pafos, then travel back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“We need to win both, if not, we try to play the playoff and then go to the next round,” remarked Maresca, whose following fixture is a game against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has propelled them to the surprising position of seventh in the domestic 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 forced me to take up golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker explained how, had his dad got his way, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the top flight.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolves 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 pub that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the ground that they were inevitably going to. Just arriving 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – a correspondent.

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