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While The Blues didn’t completely torpedo their chances of ending up in the highest eight places of the continental tournament group stage, they executed a targeted blow on their own chances of strolling directly into the knockout stages. Of course, the silver lining is that in the short one-year history of the recently revamped competition, achieving a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Core Issue: A Predictable Inconsistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about the Chelsea team is a reliably erratic lack of consistency, which has been much remarked upon since their defeat in Bergamo. Since apparently rubber-stamping their credentials with an commanding victory of Barcelona, followed by a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, the team have been stuffed by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now lost against a mid-table side from Italy's top flight.

Although pundits have been quick to lay the blame on a selection policy that appears to see the coach change his lineup constantly, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“I think tonight, starting team, we had on the field eight, nine players that featured against Tottenham, they play against Barca, they played against Wolverhampton, the Gunners,” he droned. “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 Bournemouth game, it’s a different situation.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the additional knockout round, Chelsea will have to win their remaining two matches. First up, they welcome the unexpected contenders Pafos, then travel back to the continent to face the Italian title holders, Napoli.

“We need to win both, otherwise, we will face the playoff and then progress to the following stage,” remarked the Italian coach, whose following fixture is a match against an Everton team whose recent consistency has propelled them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “You know, it’s somewhat ironic because his biggest dream was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he pushed me to start on golf. So I played golf every week from when I was 10 to 13” – Erling Haaland explained how, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than tearing it up in the top flight.

Fan Correspondence

“Well, no wonder Wolves are in such a poor situation. As any regular reader of this column 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 inevitably going to. Just arriving 10 minutes late? That’s how long it takes fans to get to their seats anyway” – one reader.

“I note that a reader not only got Tuesday’s letter o’ the day, but also a name check in another reader's letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield once more surrendered points after leading, I am led to ponder: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of representation in your letters section is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are accomplishing on the field?” – a different supporter.