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While The London club didn’t completely torpedo their prospects of ending up in the top eight of the continental tournament opening phase, they performed a targeted blow on their own hopes of automatically qualifying for the round of 16. Naturally, the silver lining is that in the brief history of the recently revamped tournament, securing a top-eight finish isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Central Problem: A Predictable Lack of Consistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, 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 Italy. Since apparently rubber-stamping their credentials with an impressive beat-down of a European giant, and then a feisty stalemate with Arsenal, Chelsea have been defeated by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now been beaten by a mid-table side from Serie A.

While critics have been eager to point the finger 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 maintains that, injuries and suspensions aside, the core of his starting lineup 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 featured against Spurs, they play against Barca, they play against Wolverhampton, Arsenal,” he stated. “There were most of the regulars that are the ones consistently selected for these kind of games. So if you see the several alterations that we did compared to previous game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

To have any realistic chance of escaping the additional knockout round, Chelsea will have to win their final two group games. First up, they welcome this season’s surprise package Pafos, before heading back to the continent to face the Italian title holders, the Neapolitan side.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we will face the playoff and then progress to the next round,” sniffed Maresca, whose following fixture is a game against an Merseyside team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the surprising position of the top half in the domestic 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 forced me to start on 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 on the golf course rather than scoring goals in the Premier League.

Fan Correspondence

“So, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a sad state. As any longtime reader of this column will know, the only good pre-match protests involve marching from a public house 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 one correspondent not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a mention in another reader's letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield again dropped points after leading, I am led to ponder: could Sheffield be proving that the frequency of representation in your letters section is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.