Published: 17:00, 30 October 2025 | Updated: 17:00, 30 October 2025

Liam Delap is good at mathematics. Scarily good. A walking calculator who can solve complex equations for fun. Ask him the cubed root of 778,688 and within a second he will tell you the answer with a smile: 92, of course.

We know this because while killing time at a photoshoot for the club’s third kit two months ago, Chelsea staff members threw all manner of numbers at him. What about 274,625? It’s 65, duh. Or 39,304? Easy, 34. How do you know all this? ‘Just clever, innit,’ Delap replied.

So Chelsea’s striker can probably do the maths on what his second yellow card against Wolverhampton Wanderers means. It means his club have received six reds in their last nine games. It means they have now spent 12.5 per cent of this entire season down to 10 men. It means they have played 1,412 minutes in total in all competitions, and 177 of those a player shy.

Now, Maresca could call a team meeting, show his squad the footage of their foolishness, the...