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While Chelsea didn't entirely destroy their prospects of finishing in the highest eight places of the continental tournament group stage, they performed a targeted blow on their own hopes of automatically qualifying for the knockout stages. Naturally, the good news is that in the short one-year history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, achieving a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Concern: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic inconsistency, which has been widely discussed since their loss in Italy. Since seemingly confirming their credentials with an commanding victory of Barcelona, and then a feisty stalemate 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 mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

While pundits have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that appears to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the manager maintains that, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his first eleven for big matches is mostly fixed.

“In my view tonight, first XI, we had on the field the majority of the team that play against Spurs, they play against Barcelona, they played against Wolverhampton, Arsenal,” he stated. “We had 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 compared to previous game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of escaping the additional knockout round, they will have to win their remaining two matches. First up, they welcome this season’s surprise package a Cypriot team, then travel back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“We need to win both, if not, we will face the extra round and then progress to the following stage,” sniffed Maresca, whose following fixture is a game against an Everton team whose current form has propelled them to the dizzy heights of the top half in the domestic league.

Other Notes

Notable Comment: “You know, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he forced me to start on golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker explained how, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any regular reader of this column will know, the only good pre-match protests involve marching from a public house that the supporters planned to be at 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” – one reader.

“I note that a reader not only got the previous letter o’ the day, but also a name check in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield 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 related to the value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.