Out of the chaos of his first season at Chelsea, Mauricio Pochettino can see the prospect of a Europa League campaign taking shape.
It is small reward by the standards of his club’s recent history but reward nevertheless for Pochettino, whose team moved into sixth on a day when Todd Boehly, one of his bosses, could be heard espousing the value of patience.
Victory at Brighton through goals by Cole Palmer and Christopher Nkunku was their fourth in a row.
They are five unbeaten since a 5-0 mauling at Arsenal and this improvement has them in position to qualify for Europe going into Sunday’s finale at home against Bournemouth.