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While Chelsea avoided a total demolition of their prospects of ending up in the highest eight places of the Bigger Cup group stage, they performed a precise, surgical strike on their own chances of strolling directly into the knockout stages. Naturally, the good news is that in the brief history of the new and not-necessarily-improved competition, achieving a top-eight finish may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Central Concern: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the only consistent thing about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic lack of consistency, which has been much remarked upon since their loss in Bergamo. After seemingly confirming their quality with an commanding victory of a European giant, followed by a bad-tempered draw with a London rival, Chelsea have been defeated by Leeds, played out a dull draw at Bournemouth and have now lost against a average team from Serie A.

While critics have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that seems to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup constantly, the manager maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his starting lineup for games against strong opposition is largely set in stone.

“In my view tonight, starting team, we had inside the pitch eight, nine players that featured against Spurs, they played against Barcelona, they played against Wolves, the Gunners,” he droned. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for these kind of games. So if you look at the several alterations 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, they will have to win their final two group games. In the first, they host this season’s surprise package Pafos, before heading back to the continent to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“Victories in both are required, otherwise, we will face the extra round and then go to the next round,” sniffed Maresca, whose following fixture is a match against an Everton team whose current form has propelled them to the dizzy heights of the top half in the domestic league.

Other Notes

Notable Comment: “It's interesting, 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” – a star striker explained how, if his father had his preference, he could have been on the golf course rather than tearing it up in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“So, no wonder Wolves are in such a sad state. As any longtime reader of this email will know, the only good pre-match protests involve walking from a pub that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the ground that they were always 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 a reader not only got the previous featured letter, but also a name check in another reader's letter. On a night where both clubs from Sheffield again surrendered 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?” – a different supporter.