At the time same that Fulham were holding Liverpool, Hull City were also playing coupon-busters at Stamford Bridge.
The Tigers’ scarcely believable unbeaten start to 2026/27 continued in west London as they deservedly took a point from free-scoring Chelsea.
Here are our Scout Notes from the game.
CHELSEA ATTACK GOOD…
Sometimes, when Fantasy managers are considering triple-ups from a club, there’s a dilemma over which three players to pick. That’s far from the case at Chelsea at present.
Morgan Rogers (£7.7m), Cole Palmer (£9.7m) and Joao Pedro (£7.8m) continue to tick along nicely, even if Gameweek 3 wasn’t quite the points bonanza that the Hull fixture had promised to be – especially for Palmer captainers/Triple Captainers.
All three delivered attacking returns on Saturday. Pedro teed up Rogers to lash in Chelsea’s early opener, before Palmer crossed low for Pedro for a blushes-sparing second-half leveller.
In the end, they did well to get eight, five and 12 points from this contest. Apart from a late chance when Palmer set up Rogers, ‘JP Morgan’ didn’t get too many other sights of goal. Pedro’s goal and assist came from his only shot and key pass of the match, indeed.
Above: Players sorted by expected goal involvement (xGI) in Chelsae v Hull
… BUT DEFENCE NOT SO MUCH
While the front three have combined for 14 attacking returns in just four Gameweeks, the defence continues to flounder.
Hull, remarkably, outdid their hosts for xG on Saturday. Comfortably, too. That’s the first time the Tigers have managed that in a Premier League match this season.
“Overall, I think that we are attacking better than defending, in every part. We know that it’s a big topic and a big theme for us. For sure, it’s just four games, but the dynamic in terms of conceding, I don’t like it, and we need to do much better. Open play, set-pieces, long balls, this toughness, this competitive sense; we can do better.” – Xabi Alonso
Is the chopping and changing hindering things?
After the benching of Maxence Lacroix (£6.0m) on Saturday, only one Chelsea defender, Jorell Hato (£4.5m), has started all four league matches in 2026/27 – and even he was hooked at half-time against Hull after a horror show of a first half.
It’s not just personnel, but shape, too. Alonso switched to a 4-2-3-1 here (a formation we’d seen in pre-season), and Chelsea were ragged. Hull had twice the number of big chances (four) that Chelsea (two) did.
Above: Premier League teams sorted by big chances conceded (BC) after in Gameweeks 1-4 (following Saturday’s games)
If you own Kevin Schade (£6.0m) or Igor Thiago (£7.9m), you shouldn’t be too concerned about playing them in Gameweek 5.
NOTE QUITE LONDON 0-4 HULL, BUT ALMOST AS GOOD
The bookmaker-defying honeymoon period continues for Hull. Is this just the purple patch of a newly promoted team playing without the burden of expectation? Will they eventually regress to the mean? Probably yes on both accounts but one thing is for sure: they’re nowhere near as bad as they were meant to be.
They do have the advantage of having a hugely impressive manager in their corner, too. Sergej Jakirovic’s press conferences are great listens, from the tactical discussion to the dry wit.
They’d already proven themselves adept at the backs-to-the-wall stuff but we saw plenty of their fearless attacking ambition on Saturday.
After a tough opening half an hour in which Hull barely got a kick, Mohamed Belloumi‘s (£5.0m) thumping half-volley equaliser seemed to instil some belief into the visitors. Belloumi cutely set up Lewis Coyle (£4.0m) for a blocked effort before the Algerian winger added a deflected second, while Oli McBurnie (£5.5m) and sub Mohamed Ali-Cho (£5.0m) had huge chances saved in the second half. McBurnie would have made it 3-1, had he scored.
Above: Hull’s xG map on Saturday (the bigger the circle, the better the chance)
Look out Newcastle United, next weekend…
MENDY INJURY LATEST
Hull look set to travel to Tyneside without Nobel Mendy (£4.1m), however. The centre-half came off worse in a clash of heads with Pedro, and was subbed off after 58 minutes. He’s yet to make it past the 70-minute mark this season.
“Yeah, not good. I think we are thinking it’s a concussion. He went to the hospital and after head scan, we will know more, but it’s concussion 100%.
“Mendy will be out, 100%, so we need to find a new player.” – Sergej Jakirovic on Nobel Mendy
Lucas Herrington (£4.0m) is an impressive understudy, however, and should slot seamlessly in.
Elsewhere at the back, Semi Ajayi (£4.2m) hit the bar with a header and there was yet more DefCon joy for John Egan (£4.1m):
Dirt-cheap midfielder Regan Slater (£4.5m) was only one contribution away from bagging DefCon points himself. This was the bargain-bin FPL asset’s fourth straight 90-minute outing.
