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Although The Blues didn't entirely destroy their chances of finishing in the top eight of the continental tournament group stage, they executed a targeted blow on their own hopes of waltzing straight into the knockout stages. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, achieving a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Problem: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Unfortunately for the club's supporters, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed since their loss in Bergamo. After seemingly confirming their quality with an impressive beat-down of Barcelona, and then a feisty stalemate with Arsenal, Chelsea have been defeated by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a mid-table side from Serie A.

Although critics have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that seems to see the coach change his lineup like a kebab shop’s elephant leg of doner meat, the Chelsea head coach insists that, injuries and suspensions aside, the nucleus of his first eleven for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“In my view tonight, starting team, we had inside the pitch eight, nine players that featured against Spurs, they play against Barca, they played against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he stated. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you see the five changes that we did from the previous game, it’s a different situation.”

The Path Forward

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the additional knockout round, they will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they host this season’s surprise package a Cypriot team, then travel 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 go to the following stage,” sniffed Maresca, whose next appointment is a match against an Everton team whose recent consistency 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 biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he forced me to take up golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – a star striker revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“So, no wonder Wolves are in such a sad state. As any regular reader of this email will know, the only effective pre-match protests involve walking from a pub that the supporters intended to visit 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 see that a reader not only got the previous featured letter, but also a mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams again surrendered points after leading, I am wondering: could Sheffield 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.