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Although Chelsea avoided a total demolition of their chances of ending up in the top eight of the Bigger Cup group stage, they executed a precise, surgical strike on their own chances of strolling directly into the round of 16. Of course, the good news is that in the brief history of the recently revamped competition, achieving a place in the top eight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The Core Concern: A Predictable Inconsistency

Unfortunately for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a reliably erratic lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed since their defeat in Bergamo. After seemingly confirming their credentials with an commanding victory of a European giant, followed by a feisty stalemate with a London rival, Chelsea have been defeated by Leeds, played out a snoozy stalemate at Bournemouth and have now been beaten by a average team from Italy's top flight.

While pundits have been eager to point the finger on a selection policy that appears to see Enzo Maresca rotate his team incessantly, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the nucleus of his first eleven for games against strong opposition is mostly fixed.

“In my view tonight, first XI, we had on the field the majority of the team that play against Spurs, they play against Barca, they played against Wolves, Arsenal,” he stated. “We had most of the regulars that are the ones playing every time for these kind of games. So if you look at the several alterations that we did from the previous game, it’s different.”

What Comes Next

For a genuine opportunity of avoiding the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to win their remaining two matches. In the first, they welcome this season’s surprise package a Cypriot team, before heading back to Italy to face the Serie A champions, the Neapolitan side.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we will face the playoff and then progress to the next round,” remarked the Italian coach, whose following fixture is a match against an Everton team whose current form has taken to them to the surprising position of seventh in the domestic league.

Side Stories

Notable Comment: “You know, it’s actually funny because his greatest wish was me turning pro in golf. That was his ultimate ambition. So when I was 10, he forced 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 scoring goals in the Premier League.

Readers' Letters

“So, 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 walking from a public house that the supporters intended to visit anyway, to the stadium that they were always 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 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 Sheffield teams again dropped points after leading, I am led to ponder: could the city be proving that the regularity of appearances in your mailbag is inversely related to the value of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – another fan.