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Although Chelsea didn't entirely destroy their chances of ending up in the top eight of the European competition opening phase, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own chances of strolling directly into the knockout stages. Of course, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, achieving a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Central Problem: A Predictable Inconsistency

Unfortunately for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon since their defeat in Bergamo. Since seemingly confirming their quality with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, followed by a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, Chelsea have been defeated by a Championship side, played out a dull draw at Bournemouth and have now lost against a mid-table side from Serie A.

While pundits have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that appears to see Enzo Maresca rotate his team constantly, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“In my view in that game, starting team, we had on the field eight, nine players that play against Spurs, they played against Barcelona, they play against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he stated. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. So if you see the five changes that we did compared to previous game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to win their remaining two matches. First up, they host the unexpected contenders Pafos, then travel back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we will face the playoff and then progress to the next round,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a game against an Everton team whose current form has propelled 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 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” – Erling Haaland explained how, if his father had his preference, 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 sad state. 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 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” – one reader.

“I see that one correspondent not only got Tuesday’s letter o’ the day, but also a name check in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield again dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could the city 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?” – another fan.