Chelsea are back in Champions League action on Wednesday night
Chelsea Football Newsletter
Chelsea are in a good position to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages, but they appear likelier to end up in the play-off round than straight into the last 16.
The Blues are 11th in the table ahead of the penultimate round of league-phase fixtures, two points off the top eight, who qualify directly for the round of 16, bypassing the play-off round.
Chelsea host Pafos at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday before completing the league phase away to Napoli next week.
What Chelsea need to qualify for Champions League knockout stage
To qualify automatically as one of the top eight teams, it is impossible to do so unless they win one of their remaining group games.
Winning one and losing the other would still be extremely unlikely to see Chelsea straight through to the round of 16 as one of the top eight.
Winning and drawing could be enough, provided the teams in and around them do not accrue more points in their last two fixtures than the Blues.
Beating both Pafos and Napoli would give ten-point Chelsea a huge likelihood of being in the top eight and qualifying automatically.
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Last season, 11 points were needed to finish in the top 24 and reach the play-off round.
Chelsea are just one point off that mark, heading into their last two games so are well on the way.
The number of points needed to qualify directly for the round of 16 by finishing in top eight last season was 16.
To reach that number again, Chelsea must beat both Pafos and Napoli in a flawless end to their eight-game league phase campaign.