Why Chelsea's unconvincing victory over Leicester was a 'very important' marker for Blues chiefs as Enzo Maresca's men chase down Champions League qualification

Marc Cucurella's decisive goal ensured that Maresca’s side collected all three points to climb up to fourth place in the Premier League standings. They are now two points clear of Manchester City and Newcastle in the race for European football. However, the battle remains tight, with just six points separating third from eighth, making every remaining fixture crucial in the final stretch of the season.

The Telegraph's Matt Law has now revealed Chelsea’s analytics team has been working on data modelling to determine the minimum number of points required before the international break to remain on course for a top-four finish. Having missed out on Europe's elite competition for two consecutive seasons, Chelsea are eager to reclaim a spot among the continent’s best and they are tracking every detail to help them achieve their target. Fifth place could be enough to secure a Champions League place due to English clubs' performance in this year's edition.

Speaking on the London Is Blue Podcast, Law revealed: "I know internally at Chelsea they have been doing a little bit of data modelling over the last few weeks and the data modelling they came up with suggested that they needed to finish before the international break with at least 49 points.

"So the Leicester win, albeit not convincing and not particularly impressive in many respects, has been viewed as very important internally because they’ve hit what their data modelling suggested at bare minimum they needed to be on going into that international break to really give them a good chance of Champions League qualification, so that win was viewed as a big win."

With the win over Leicester behind them, Chelsea must now shift their focus to European competition as they are set to face Copenhagen in the second leg of their Conference League round of 16 tie, hoping to secure passage to the quarter-finals. Following their midweek assignment, Chelsea will prepare for a high-stakes Premier League showdown against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.