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Although The London club didn’t completely torpedo their prospects of ending up in the top eight of the Bigger Cup group stage, they performed a precise, surgical strike on their own hopes of strolling directly into the round of 16. Of course, the good news is that in the short one-year history of the recently revamped tournament, achieving a place in the top eight may not be as crucial as it seems.

The Core Issue: A Monotonous Inconsistency

Sadly for Stamford Bridge regulars, the sole predictable element about Enzo Maresca’s side is a monotonously predictable lack of consistency, which has been widely discussed since their defeat in Bergamo. Since seemingly confirming their credentials with an commanding victory of Barcelona, and then a bad-tempered draw with Arsenal, Chelsea have been stuffed by a Championship side, played out a snoozy stalemate at the south coast club and have now lost against a average team from Serie A.

Although pundits have been eager to point the finger on a team selection approach that seems to see Enzo Maresca change his lineup constantly, the Chelsea head coach maintains that, knack and naughty step permitting, the core of his starting lineup for big matches is largely set in stone.

“In my view tonight, starting team, we had on the field the majority of the team that featured against Spurs, they played against Barca, they play against Wolverhampton, Arsenal,” he stated. “We had eight, nine players that are the ones consistently selected for matches of this magnitude. So if you see the several alterations that we did from the Bournemouth game, it’s different.”

The Path Forward

For a genuine opportunity of escaping the Bigger Cup playoff round, they will have to be victorious in their remaining two matches. First up, they welcome this season’s surprise package Pafos, then travel back to Italy to face the Italian title holders, the Neapolitan side.

“Victories in both are required, if not, we try to play the extra round and then go to the following stage,” remarked the Italian coach, whose next appointment is a match against an Everton team whose recent consistency has taken to them to the dizzy heights of seventh in the Premier League.

Other Notes

Quote of the Day: “It's interesting, it’s somewhat ironic because his greatest wish was me becoming a professional golfer. That was his ultimate ambition. 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, had his dad got his way, 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 poor situation. As any regular reader of this column will know, the only good pre-match protests involve marching from a pub 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 note that one correspondent not only got Tuesday’s featured letter, but also a name check in another reader's letter. On a night where both Sheffield teams once more surrendered points after leading, I am led to ponder: could Sheffield be proving that the regularity of appearances in your letters section is inversely related to the success of anything our teams are achieving on the field?” – a different supporter.