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While Chelsea didn't entirely destroy their prospects of finishing in the top eight of the continental tournament opening phase, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own hopes of strolling directly into the knockout stages. Of course, the good news is that in the short one-year history of the new and not-necessarily-improved tournament, achieving a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Central Concern: A Monotonous Lack of Consistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been much remarked upon following their defeat in Bergamo. After seemingly confirming their quality with an commanding victory of a European giant, followed by 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 lost against a average team from Italy's top flight.

Although critics have been quick to lay the blame on a team selection approach that appears to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup incessantly, the Chelsea head coach insists that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“I think in that game, first XI, we had on the field the majority of the team that featured against Tottenham, they played against Barca, they played against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” 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 several alterations that we did from the previous game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the additional knockout round, they will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they welcome this season’s surprise package a Cypriot team, then travel back to the continent to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“We need to win both, if not, we will face the playoff and then go to the following stage,” sniffed the Italian coach, whose following fixture is a match against an Everton team whose recent consistency has propelled them to the dizzy heights of the top half in the domestic league.

Side Stories

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, it’s actually funny because his biggest dream was me turning pro in golf. That was his biggest dream. 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, if his father had his preference, he could have been teeing off rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolverhampton Wanderers are in such a poor situation. As any regular reader of this email will know, the only effective pre-match protests involve marching from a public house that the supporters planned to be at anyway, to the ground that they were always going to. Just arriving 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – a correspondent.

“I see that a reader not only got the previous letter o’ the day, but also a name check in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams again 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 value of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – another fan.