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While The Blues didn’t completely torpedo their prospects of finishing in the highest eight places of the European competition opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own hopes of automatically qualifying for the knockout stages. Of course, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, securing a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Problem: A Predictable Inconsistency

Unfortunately 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 since their defeat in Bergamo. Since seemingly confirming their quality with an commanding victory of a European giant, followed by a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, Chelsea have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now lost against a average team from Serie A.

Although pundits have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that seems to see the coach rotate his team constantly, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is largely set in stone.

“In my view tonight, first XI, we had inside the pitch eight, nine players that play against Tottenham, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolves, the Gunners,” he droned. “We had most of the regulars that are the ones playing every time 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, they will have to win their remaining two matches. First up, they welcome the unexpected contenders a Cypriot team, before heading back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, Napoli.

“We need to win both, if not, we will face the extra round and then progress to the next round,” remarked Maresca, whose next appointment is a game against an Everton team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the domestic league.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, it’s somewhat ironic because his greatest wish 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 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 teeing off rather than scoring goals in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolves are in such a sad state. As any regular reader of this column will know, the only effective pre-match protests involve marching from a public house that the supporters planned to be at 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” – a correspondent.

“I note that a reader not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could the city be proving that the frequency of representation in your letters section is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – another fan.