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While The London club didn’t completely torpedo their prospects of finishing in the highest eight places of the European competition group stage, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own hopes of automatically qualifying for the knockout stages. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped tournament, securing a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Central Problem: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic lack of consistency, which has been much remarked upon following their loss in Italy. Since apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an commanding victory of Barcelona, followed by a feisty stalemate with a London rival, the team have been defeated by Leeds, played out a dull draw at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

While pundits have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that appears to see the coach change his lineup like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the manager maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“In my view in that game, first XI, we had on the field eight, nine players that play against Spurs, they played against Barcelona, they play against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he droned. “There were 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 different.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the additional knockout 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.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we will face the extra round and then go to the following stage,” sniffed Maresca, whose next appointment is a game against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the surprising position of the top half in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he forced me to start on golf. So I practiced every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland explained how, had his dad got his way, he could have been on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any longtime 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 arriving 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – one reader.

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