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While The London club avoided a total demolition of their hopes of ending up in the top eight of the continental tournament opening phase, they executed a targeted blow on their own chances of waltzing straight into the round of 16. Of course, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped competition, securing a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Central Problem: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon following their loss in Bergamo. After apparently rubber-stamping their quality with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, followed by a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, the team have been defeated by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now lost against a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

While critics have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that appears to see Enzo Maresca rotate his team like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the manager insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his starting lineup for big matches is largely set in stone.

“In my view in that game, first XI, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that featured against Tottenham, they played against Barca, they played against Wolves, Arsenal,” he droned. “There were most of the regulars that are the ones playing every time for matches of this magnitude. So if you see the five changes that we did from the Bournemouth game, it’s different.”

The Path Forward

To have any realistic chance of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, Chelsea will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they welcome this season’s surprise package Pafos, before heading back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we will face the extra round and then go to the following stage,” remarked the Italian coach, whose following fixture 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

Notable Comment: “It's interesting, it’s somewhat ironic because his greatest wish was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his biggest dream. So when I was 10, he forced me to take up golf. So I practiced 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 tearing it up in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolves 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 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 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 again dropped points after leading, I am wondering: could the city be proving that the frequency of appearances in your mailbag is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.