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Although The Blues avoided a total demolition of their chances of finishing in the top eight of the continental tournament opening phase, they performed a precise, surgical strike 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 tournament, achieving a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Concern: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about the Chelsea team is a monotonously predictable inconsistency, which has been much remarked upon following their loss in Italy. After apparently rubber-stamping their credentials with an commanding victory of Barcelona, and then a feisty stalemate with a London rival, 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 Italy's top flight.

While critics have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that appears to see the coach rotate his team constantly, 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 tonight, starting team, we had inside the pitch eight, nine players that play against Tottenham, they played against Barca, they played against Wolverhampton, Arsenal,” he stated. “There were most of the regulars that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. So if you see the five changes that we did compared to Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to be victorious in their final two group games. First up, they host this season’s surprise package a Cypriot team, before heading back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“We need to win both, if not, we try to play the playoff and then go to the following stage,” sniffed Maresca, whose following fixture is a game against an Everton team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the dizzy heights of the top half in the domestic league.

Other Notes

Notable Comment: “You know, it’s somewhat ironic because his greatest wish was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he pushed me to take up golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland revealed how, had his dad got his way, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“So, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers 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 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 one correspondent not only got the previous featured letter, but also a mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield once more 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 related to the value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.