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Although Chelsea didn’t completely torpedo their prospects of ending up in the top eight of the European competition opening phase, they executed a targeted blow on their own chances of automatically qualifying for the knockout stages. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the recently revamped tournament, achieving a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Core Issue: 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. After apparently rubber-stamping their credentials with an commanding victory of a European giant, followed by a feisty stalemate with a London rival, the team have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a dull draw at Bournemouth and have now lost against a mid-table side from Serie A.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a team selection approach that seems to see the coach change his lineup incessantly, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his first eleven for big matches is mostly fixed.

“In my view in that game, starting team, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that play against Tottenham, they played against Barca, they played against Wolves, Arsenal,” he stated. “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 a different situation.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of escaping the additional knockout round, Chelsea will have to be victorious in their remaining two matches. First up, they welcome this season’s surprise package Pafos, before heading back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, the Neapolitan side.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we try to play the extra round and then go to the following stage,” remarked the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a match against an Everton team whose current form has propelled them to the dizzy heights of the top half in the Premier 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 pushed me to start on golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“Well, no wonder Wolves are in such a sad state. As any longtime 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 showing up 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 name check in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield again dropped points after leading, I am led to ponder: could the city be proving that the regularity of appearances in your letters section is inversely proportional to the value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.