Chelsea squandered a two-goal lead against Leeds United on Tuesday, as Cole Palmer (£10.5m) somehow missed a sitter in stoppage time.
Here are our Scout Notes from Stamford Bridge.
ANOTHER PALMER PEN
Fresh from his hat-trick at Molineux, Palmer was once again busy pulling the strings for Chelsea on Tuesday.
With Enzo Fernandez (£6.9m) used from the left, just like he was in Gameweek 25, the pair would often switch positions, which meant the Blues could regularly overload the middle.
Palmer consequently found plenty of space between the lines in Liam Rosenior’s fluid 4-2-3-1 setup.
As for Enzo, he did a lot more defensive work than his teammate, but still racked up three shots and five chances created.
Above: Cole Palmer (left) and Enzo Fernandez’s (right) touch heatmaps v Leeds United
After his assist for Joao Pedro’s (£7.6m) opener, Palmer whipped in his third penalty in two matches.
It could have been more, too: Palmer missed a sitter in the final moments, somehow firing over from only a couple of yards out.
The miss had an expected goals (xG) value of 0.87:
PEDRO’S SHOTS
Pedro also caught the eye and was Chelsea’s leading shot-taker of the Gameweek.
The Brazilian fired the hosts into a 24th-minute lead from Palmer’s inch-perfect through ball. As was the case on Saturday, he also won a penalty for Palmer to convert.
That’s now nine attacking returns in five matches under Rosenior.
Pedro’s shooting really caught the eye on Tuesday, too.
He racked up seven shots in the box against Leeds, the most he’s ever had in a Premier League match.
It’ll no doubt interest a few prospective Pedro buyers in Gameweek 27, when Chelsea have a plum home fixture against Burnley.
“He’s a top player, he always has been. I know how hard, speaking to the guys, the club, worked to bring him to the club because he’s had that potential and he’s now starting to show that. Some of the play, some of the movements and the patterns in the first half was everything I wanted to see in the team.
“And Joao suits the way I want to play down to the ground. And even at the end, his energy levels, to create the chances for himself in the second half that he did, he was really unfortunate with the header. He’s showing me an energy and intensity and a quality that is of a really, really high level.” – Liam Rosenior on Joao Pedro, via Football London
CUCURELLA INJURY LATEST
Chelsea replaced Marc Cucurella (£6.1m) with Jorrel Hato (£4.6m) at half-time due to injury.
Rosenior said in his post-match presser that the Spaniard will now go for a scan on a potential hamstring issue.
“Unfortunately at half-time he felt his hamstring. It wasn’t a tactical change, it was one that was enforced. Cucu’s been top and hopefully he’ll be okay. We’ll scan him and make sure we find out if he’s available for the next game.” – Liam Rosenior on Marc Cucurella
Chelsea conceded twice after his departure, so they’ve now kept just one clean sheet in their last five matches.
Reece James (£5.7m), who Rosenior said was ill before this match, failed to make the matchday squad.
Elsewhere, Moises Caicedo (£5.7m) picked up his eighth booking of the season. Two more cautions before Chelsea contest their 32nd fixture will lead to a two-match ban.
WHY CALVERT-LEWIN MISSED OUT, BOGLE ‘OOP’
There was no place for Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.9m) in Leeds’ matchday squad at Stamford Bridge.
He missed out completely due to illness.
“Pascal Struijk, Dominic Calvert-Lewin sadly struggling with illness and Anton Stach, they are all key players for us. They all miss out.” – Daniel Farke
In his absence, Lukas Nmecha (£5.0m) led the line, with Jayden Bogle (£4.4m) – who scored against Nottingham Forest on Friday – pushed forward into an advanced role on the right wing.
From that position, Bogle was superb, claiming the assist for Leeds’ penalty after he was fouled by Caicedo. He was heavily involved in the equaliser, too.
“Thank god we saw today he could play on the right wing and also play in the pocket. We surprised Chelsea a little bit. If we didn’t concede such cheap goals we may have seen more of him. If the game went on for longer, we would have seen more from him going forward. I didn’t want to disrupt Justin and Bogle’s relationship. Jayden had never played that role, but my players have shown their tactical flexibility. Thank god it worked and for that all credit goes to them.” – Daniel Farke on Jayden Bogle
Meanwhile, centre-backs Joe Rodon (£3.9m) and Jaka Bijol (£3.9m) both banked defensive contribution (DefCon) points, the only players from either side to do so at the time of writing.
