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Although The London club didn't entirely destroy their prospects of ending up in the top eight of the Bigger Cup opening phase, they executed a targeted blow on their own chances of waltzing straight into the knockout stages. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, securing a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Central Concern: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Sadly for the club's supporters, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed following their loss in Bergamo. After seemingly confirming their quality with an commanding victory of Barcelona, followed by a feisty stalemate with Arsenal, Chelsea have been defeated by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club 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 incessantly, the manager 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 in that game, starting team, we had inside the pitch the majority of the team that featured against Tottenham, they play against Barcelona, they play against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he droned. “There were eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you look at the five changes that we did from the Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

The Path Forward

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the additional knockout round, Chelsea will have to be victorious in their final two group games. First up, they host the unexpected contenders 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 progress to the following stage,” remarked Maresca, whose next appointment is a match against an Everton team whose recent consistency has propelled them to the surprising position of seventh in the domestic league.

Side Stories

Notable Comment: “You know, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream 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” – Erling Haaland revealed how, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the top flight.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any longtime 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 showing up 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – one reader.

“I note that one correspondent not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a name check in a separate letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield once more dropped points after leading, I am led to ponder: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of appearances in your mailbag is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.