Scout Notes
2 October 2025 0 comments
FPL Marc FPL Marc
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Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur both needed own goals during Tuesday’s Champions League encounters.

The Blues held on to a 1-0 lead over former boss Jose Mourinho, while Spurs came from 2-0 down to avoid a shock defeat by the Arctic Circle.

Assessing the matches from a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) perspective, here are our latest Scout Notes.


RESULTS

TeamOpponentResultGoalsAssists
ChelseaBenfica (h)1-0 winRios (own goal)Garnacho
TottenhamBodo/Glimt (a)2-2 drawvan de Ven, Gundersen (own goal)Porro, Gray

SELECTION/ROTATION

TeamNo. of starting XI changes made from GW6Players who kept their places (mins played)Notable mins for other players
Chelsea5Cucurella (90), Sanchez (90), Enzo (90),
Caicedo (90), Neto (90), Chalobah (90)
Gusto (80), Garnacho (61), Joao Pedro (29)
Tottenham5van de Ven (90), Richarlison (90), Vicario (90),
Spence (82), Bentancur (82), Bergvall (60)
Porro (90), Danso (90), Sarr (69), Johnson (60),
Kudus (30), Xavi (30), Udogie (8)

JOAO PEDRO BAN DETAILS

Given a mini breather while battling the “small problems” that continue to affect his training schedule, Joao Pedro (£7.7m) came on briefly against Benfica and still found time to collect two yellow cards. The second because of a high boot.

Combine this sending off with not being named in Brazil’s latest squad, and it’s good news for FPL owners at a time when managers may have started to turn against his poor underlying numbers: one shot in three matches, which wasn’t on target.

FPL notes: Ban for unfit Pedro, Kudus rest + Richarlison boost

Now, he’ll have a fortnight break between Gameweeks 7 and 8, then have a Champions League suspension preceding Gameweek 9. The ban doesn’t affect his Premier League availability.

FIVE CHANGES FOR BOTH SIDES

Elsewhere, Marc Cucurella (£6.1m), Enzo Fernandez (£6.7m) and Moises Caicedo (£5.7m) played all 90 minutes on both Saturday and Tuesday.

As did goalkeeper Robert Sanchez (£4.9m), whose last three league games have brought him more red cards than clean sheets. So keeping one here, making some saves along the way, should boost his confidence.

In fact, this was the third consecutive Premier League or Champions League match where Chelsea went down to 10 men. At least this one occurred so late that there was no time to lose their lead, gained when far-post Alejandro Garnacho (£6.4m) put a Pedro Neto (£7.0m) cross back the other way, going in off the unlucky Richard Rios.

Spurs also made five lineup changes, encountering a tougher time than their last Bodo/Glimt trip of under five months ago.

A fresh Pedro Porro (£5.6m) was back in and one of his 11 crosses was headed home by Micky van de Ven (£4.8m).

There were nice rests handed out to Mohammed Kudus (£6.7m) – the only Premier League player with more crosses (46) than Porro – and Xavi Simons (£7.1m), though both were eventually called upon in this emergency.

RICHARLISON TO KEEP STARTING?

You see, although Spurs won May’s equivalent Europa League semi-final meeting 2-0, this time they were bombarded with shots and found themselves losing by that margin after 66 minutes.

Bodo missed a Kasper Hogh penalty, but scored through a pair of neat Hakon Evjen to Jens Petter Hauge plays.

Rodrigo Bentancur‘s (£5.4m) equaliser in between was ruled out for an earlier foul. But, to the relief of many, Richarlison (£6.8m) went towards an 89th-minute cross and it struck the unfortunate Jostein Gundersen.

“Dom [Solanke], you know, got that ankle issue that’s been bothering him for a little while, so now we decided to make a minor surgery. It’s a small procedure, so that will mean he’s not ready for today, of course. And of course, Leeds, he’s out as well. We will have more news about timeframe after the international break, but I don’t expect it to be long.” – Thomas Frank, speaking on Monday

Now that centre-forward Dominic Solanke (£7.2m) requires ankle surgery, Richarlison’s string of starts looks set to continue. He looks like a genuine FPL option. Though the 28-year-old didn’t begin Gameweek 4’s league victory.


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FPL Marc Broadcaster, writer and overthinker. Hoping that ‘differential potential’ will catch on.

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