It’s time to cast our Scout Notes eye on two more midweek games Tottenham Hotspur And Chelsea.
Below we pick out all the key moments and news from a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) perspective.
TUESDAY’S RESULTS
| Team | They will resist | Result | Goals | Assists |
| Tottenham Hotspur | Slavia Prague (h) | 3-0 win | own goal, Kudus pen, Simons pem | Romero, Porro |
| Chelsea | Atalanta | 2-1 loss | João Pedro | James |
SELECTION/ROTATION
| Team | Number of starting XI changes made from GW15 | Players who retained their places (minutes played) | Minutes for other players |
| Tottenham | 2 | Vicario (90), Romero (90), Van de Ven (90), Spence (90), Simons (90), Richarlison (68), Porro (68), Gray (59), Kudus (58) | Palhinha (90), Odobert (76), Tel (42), Sarr (41), Kolo Muani (22), Davies (22), Bergvall (14) |
| Chelsea | 5 | Sánchez (90), Cucurella (90), James (90), Enzo (67), Neto (66), Chalobah (45) | Acheambe (90), Badiahile (90), Caiedo (90), Gittens (90), Joao Pedro (90), Garnacho (34), Gesto (33), Fofana (30), Adarabi (14) |
HOLY + XAVI TAKE PUNISHMENTS
The main talking points of Spurs’ morale-boosting 3-0 win over Slavia Praha came from 12 yards.
Spurs are, next to Aston Villa and Fulham one of only three teams not to have conceded a penalty in the Premier League this season. That’s left us a bit in the dark about who Thomas Frank’s first choice could be – especially with Dominic Solanke (£7.2m) is still sidelined.
It clearly isn’t Richarlison (£6.4 million). He had missed Spurs’ only penalty to have was awarded this season during last month’s Champions League victory over FC Copenhagen.
And the Brazilian was there then Mohammed Jerusalem (£6.5m) – who had missed the aforementioned match – then stepped up to convert in the 50th minute Pedro Porro (£5.3 million) was made in error. It suggests that the Ghanaian might be the go-to guy.
Kudus (and Richarlison) had gone into hiding by this time Xavi Simons (£6.5 million) was felled about half an hour later.
After winning that penalty himself, Simons was handed the ball by the Spurs captain Christian Romero (£5.0m), and the Dutch playmaker – who looked to take the first penalty before Kudus took responsibility – buried his effort from the spot, perhaps earning himself the back-up role.
‘Yes, but it has clearly been decided [who was taking them] for. So that wasn’t a problem. It was exactly as it should be.” – Thomas Frank on whether he would like to encourage Cristian Romero’s decisiveness in handing the ball to the penalty taker
Frank was happy with both of his summer signings, who, alongside Richarlison, were central to a few other chances on the night.
“I think [Simons] built on a good match on Saturday, produced again. Good link play, nice turns in the middle of the field and acceleration to pass a player. I like his work ethic, there was a great recovery period after 90 minutes which is crucial. – Thomas Frank about Xavi Simons
“Mo[hammed Kudus] did well at the start of the season and then suffered a dip. Now, in the past three or four weeks, he has new energy, acceleration and vigor in his actions. Also getting better aligned with the team – that’s all important.” – Thomas Frank about Mohammed Kudus
The sight of Kudus being withdrawn just before the hour mark may have initially filled Spurs fans with dread, but there is no indication that the early sub was for anything other than a break during the busy festive period.
ROMERO THREAT + TIMELY BAN FOR VAN DE VEN
Building on a Gameweek 14 draw at Newcastle and Gameweek 15’s win over Brentford to nil, which served as something of a breakout game for Simons (who grabbed a goal and an assist), a win and a crucial goal on Tuesday further eased the pressure on Frank.
Before the two successful penalties, the north Londoners’ opener had come about when Romero – who earlier almost assisted Kudus with a superb through ball – tipped Porro’s corner into a dangerous area and allowed the visitors’ David Zima to head the ball into his own net. Romero had scored twice in Newcastle, remember.
The only real downside of this last match was the yellow card that was picked up Micky van de Ven (£4.7m), who will now be suspended for Spurs’ next UCL match at home to Borussia Dortmund in just over a month. It’s not a negative for FPL owners though: that pretty much ensures he’ll start for the two plum matches in Gameweek 22 and 23. No repeat of the rest we saw in Gameweek 14.
Between now and then, a lackluster run of games from now until the new year will likely limit interest in Spurs assets somewhat.
It gives us time to assess whether recent results represent a turnaround – and whether we should reconsider Kudus and Xavi – or just the latest false dawn.
PEDRO BACKUP TOP AFTER DELAP INJURY
Tuesday proved to be a more disappointing night for another London team, whose manager complained about conceding “easy goals”.
Chelsea has now gone four games without a win since the dismantling of FC Barcelona.
They took the lead halfway through the first half João Pedro (£7.3m) scored his first Champions League goal from low Ree James (£5.3 million) cross. Pedro also almost scored a late equalizer.
The Brazilian led the full ninety minutes against Atalanta Liam Delap‘S ( £6.2m ) latest injury, with Marc Guiu (£4.2m) remains an unused replacement.
The latest suggestions are that Chelsea remain hopeful that Delap will have recovered in four weeks from the shoulder injury he suffered against Bournemouth last weekend. Until then, it’s likely we’ll see a combination of Pedro and Guiu up top in most matches, probably more of the former than the latter. Don’t be surprised if Guiu gets some rotation minutes this weekend to assist Pedro against Everton’s low block.
JAMES BACK IN MIDFIELD
This was another match where Enzo Maresca fielded natural right-back James in central midfield, and the Blues captain once again performed well.
He kept a number of important tackles and also came close to scoring on a few occasions, most notably when he dragged a follow-up shot from the edge of the area narrowly wide after his initial attempt had been blocked.
PALMER’S NIGHT OFF
Of Cole Palmer (£10.3m) Having only just returned to Chelsea’s starting line-up last Saturday and lasting less than an hour when he did, the England international was always unlikely to play a major role just a few days later.
However, Palmer was not even part of the squad that made the midweek trip to Italy.
Instead, he was “left at home as the club wanted to manage his workload,” according to Chelsea’s official statement. Enzo Fernandez (£6.6m) emerged as number 10 in his absence Moses Caicedo (£5.8m) – still suspended in FPL – joined James as the midfielders.
He is likely to continue to see his minutes improve in the coming weeks after missing a few months through injury, but one imagines Palmer will be in contention to start at home to Everton this weekend, with Enzo potentially shunted further back again if he does.
WHY CHALOBAH AND FOFANA WERE ENDORSED
Two of the five changes to the starting line-up that Maresca made were to Chelsea’s backline. A few defensive changes were needed during the match.
From the beginning, Benoit Badiashile (£4.4 million) replaced Wesley Fofana (£4.4 million). Malo wants (£4.9 million) was swapped in favor of the versatile Josh Acheampong (£3.9 million).
Acheampong barely put a foot wrong – in fact, he was the one whose stoppage time was almost converted by Pedro – and showed the positional flexibility to offer his gaffer another option to Gusto at right-back, allowing James to play in midfield more often.
There was a striking half-time elimination Trevo Chalobah (£5.3m), who has probably been Chelsea’s most solid centre-back this season.
Fortunately for him and his FPL supporters, Maresca explained that there were no injury concerns with the early sub:
“It was kind of planned, because Trev[oh Chalobah] plays every game. So it was giving [him] a little bit [of time] out. Also because Trev got a yellow card [since the 29th minute]so for both reasons.” – Enzo Maresca on replacing Trevoh Chalobah at half-time against Atalanta
Fofana replaced Chalobah, but he only lasted 30 minutes before having to be replaced himself – this time by Tosin Adarabioyo (£4.2 million). Fofana took a kick to the eye and struggled to see out, forcing an unexpected withdrawal.
“He had a problem with his eye. It’s quite bad. It’s difficult for him to see. Hopefully he can be available for Everton on Saturday.”
“Tosin’s change [Adarabioyo] was because we had to change Wes[ley Fofana]. With one more change there would certainly have been a chance for Estevao [Willian] or Andrej [Santos] to stand up and possibly change the game. – Enzo Maresca
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