A nervy win for Tottenham Hotspur at Molineux kept the relegation battle tantalisingly poised with four Gameweeks to go.
It was a mixed bag for Free Hitters who took the plunge on Spurs players this week.
There were clean sheets, bonus and defensive contribution (DefCon) points to savour for the defenders, but the two most popular attacking punts exited prematurely.
XAVI + SOLANKE INJURY LATEST
We start our Scout Notes with those aforementioned injuries to Xavi Simons (£6.6m) and Dominic Solanke (£7.3m).
The Spurs pair were the subject of over 1.1 million transfers combined for Gameweek 34, with Free Hitters accounting for a lot of those.
Solanke hobbled off in the first half with what seemed to be a hamstring injury, while Xavi departed on a stretcher with a more worrying-looking knee problem. The Dutchman had attempted to run off the issue on the touchline after treatment but soon hit the turf again and had to be carried off.
“For Xavi, it is a problem of his knee. We go to see in the next days, Monday or Tuesday.
“For Solanke, it is not a big problem. I don’t know how many games we lose him but I would like to know the situation with Xavi because the knee is always different than the muscular injury.”
“[Xavi] felt pain. Now I spoke to him two, three minutes ago. He feels better than the beginning of the injury.” – Roberto De Zerbi on Spurs’ injuries
We await timelines on the pair, then, but Xavi’s injury in particular is a blow, as he’d looked integral to Spurs’ survival hopes.
While he wasn’t nearly as effective as he was in Gameweek 33, the Dutchman still came closest to a deadlock breaker just after half-time. Cutting inside, similar to what he did against Brighton when hitting the post, he skied a very decent chance over from 10 yards out.
Richarlison (£6.3m) stands to benefit from Solanke’s absence, while Mathys Tel (£6.2m), who again looked bright off the bench, may be the one deputising for Xavi.
“We can play with Mathys Tel on the left. Kolo Muani on the right. Souza on the right. Bergvall on the left. We have to create. I don’t want to change too much, three defenders or four defenders. I don’t want to put more confusion on the players, especially this season because they changed a lot of tactical disposition. I want to be clear and simple.” – Roberto De Zerbi on how he plans to fill the void left by Xavi
NERVY + VERY NEARLY SPURSY
While Spurs secured their first league win and clean sheet of 2026 here, this was much less convincing a performance than the one they delivered in Gameweek 33.
The Lilywhites did start well enough, coming out of the blocks quickly to take control of the game, but it amounted to few clear openings. The longer the match went on, the more nervous it became. Wolves could even have had a claim of being in the ascendancy at the point of Joao Palhinha‘s (£5.5m) 82nd-minute opener.
Indeed, that crucial goal – the initial Richarlison shot and the goalbound diversion from Palhinha – accounted for well over half of Spurs’ total xG (1.05).
“I think in the first half, in the first 30-35 minutes, we played well. We didn’t create big chances to score, but anyway we had total control of the game. And then, I don’t know, the pressure, maybe not winning any games in 2026, maybe this pressure, maybe because we played against Wolverhampton already relegated. We lost distances, we lost order on the pitch. Every one of us wanted to go one-to-one.
“But anyway, I’m happy for the result. I hope this result can change something in our head, in our mentality.” – Roberto De Zerbi
Not a great advert for anyone considering Spurs assets beyond the Free Hit punt.
PORRO PROSPERING
One of the few Lilywhites to catch the eye was Pedro Porro (£5.2m).
While his tangible FPL returns were mostly defensive in nature (a clean sheet and DefCon points, as well as two bonus), he flirted heavily with an assist.
Curling in an early free-kick that Kevin Danso (£4.2m) nodded invitingly across goal, Porro also set up Xavi’s good chance and delivered the corner that Rodrigo Bentancur (£5.2m) nodded powerfully at Jose Sa (£4.2m).
The Spurs right-back sent over a number of crosses that were just missing that finishing touch, including one delivery that Matt Doherty (£4.4m) only just flicked away from an incoming Richarlison. Had the veteran Wolves defender not got that feather-touch, the Brazilian forward likely would have scored.
CHAMPIONSHIP QUALITY
After the capitulations of Gameweeks 32 and 33, this was a bit better from Wolves. Only a bit, mind.
Ultimately, despite the improvement in 2026 (peaking with wins over Liverpool and Aston Villa) and being ‘not quite as bad’ as last week, they still allowed Spurs to a) break their 14-match clean sheet drought and b) pick up three points for the first time since December.
Antonin Kinsky (£3.9m) had to be alert to rush out and thwart an onrushing Adam Armstrong (£5.2m), who also nodded wide from a Matheus Mane (£4.3m) – who was recalled to the XI – cross.
Kinsky then saved well from Joao Gomes’ (£5.3m) injury-time free-kick, but that was only his second stop of the match.
“It’s been hard this week. The final nail in the coffin, relegated. Maybe other teams would have just gone, completely, today and it might have been a complete shambles. It wasn’t. Those boys out there today gave everything.” – Rob Edwards, via the Guardian
