Pedro Neto (£6.5m) netted a brace as Chelsea beat Everton 2-0 on Merseyside, although the victory was soured by an injury to Emiliano Martinez (£5.0m).
Here are our Scout Notes from the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
MARTINEZ “BACK IN A FEW WEEKS”
Martinez had to be stretchered off and taken to hospital after he broke his jaw in a collision with Jarrad Branthwaite (£5.5m).
On Sunday, he posted a photo of himself on social media, saying he will be “back in a few weeks”.
“Thanks to everyone for the messages, the operation went well. The most important thing is that we won and with a clean sheet. We’ll be back in a few weeks.” – Emiliano Martinez
Mike Penders (£4.4m), who replaced Martinez in the 74th minute at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, looks set to start in Chelsea’s upcoming matches.
Pep Chavarria (£4.9m) meanwhile picked up a “little problem” on Friday, which is why he missed out.
“He picked up a little problem yesterday. We are not certain yet of the situation because it was late yesterday.” – Xabi Alonso on Pep Chavarria
Malo Gusto (£4.9m) was unavailable due to illness.
NETO THREAT
So far this season, it has been Cole Palmer (£9.7m), Morgan Rogers (£7.9m) and Joao Pedro (£7.9m) who have stolen the Fantasy headlines.
However, Neto scored a brace on Saturday, taking his tally to three goals and one assist in seven Gameweeks.
In that time, he’s averaged 5.5 points per start…
Above: Chelsea players sorted by points per start (Pts/Strt) in 2026/27 so far
In a feisty, proper Premier League battle, Chelsea made a strong start to the second half.
Inside a minute, Neto squeezed the ball past Jordan Pickford (£5.5m) for the opener from Jorrel Hato’s (£4.5m) cross. He later showed great composure to pick out the bottom corner.
“You can call him whatever – winger, wing-back, attacker, defender – because he can do many things. Pedro has great qualities. He’s always a threat, has a great competitive level, he can run, do one-v-ones, can score goals. He’s so competitive. When he’s close to the action, he’s a threat against any full-back. When he’s on the last line or in between, he connects well with the players around, with Joao [Pedro], with Cole [Palmer], with Josh [Acheampong] as well. They worked really well, and I’m happy he could score.” – Xabi Alonso on Pedro Neto
There were no attacking returns for Palmer, Rogers or Pedro, however.
Palmer had six shots, mostly from range, and teed up Pedro on a 3 v 2 counter-attack (see below), when a pass to Rogers, who was surely in a much better position, would likely have resulted in a goal. Instead, Pickford successfully denied Pedro.
Rogers nearly hit the defensive contribution (DefCon) threshold on 11, but was perhaps fortunate to avoid a red card.
CHELSEA CLEAN SHEET… AT LAST!
Chelsea also kept their first Premier League clean sheet since January.
In a solid defensive display, they restricted Everton to just six shots and 0.43 expected goals (xG).
It appears the defensive work done by Alonso over the international break is starting to pay off, with just one goal conceded across the Everton and Bournemouth matches.
That run has, of course, coincided with the return of influential midfielder Moises Caicedo (£5.3m), who rattled the crossbar from a Jordan Henderson (£4.9m) corner on Merseyside.
With Reece James (£5.3m) set to be out for three months, you get the feeling that the midfield partnership of Caicedo and Henderson will be key to Chelsea’s prospects for the rest of the year.
“We needed one of these wins away, where we have played very professionally and seriously, looking solid. It was a very good win. We got many things right.
“To win away is always tough, and we got the clean sheet. We knew it was a matter of time and finally we got it.” – Xabi Alonso
EVERTON’S UNBEATEN START ENDS
Everton’s unbeaten start to the season is over, then.
With Branthwaite and Vitalii Mykolenko (£4.6m) both fit to start, they did have chances in the first half, mostly notably Thierno Barry’s (£5.7m) header which was straight at Martinez.
Not known for his clinical finishing, Barry probably should have done better.
However, David Moyes’ side found it difficult to create quality chances in the second half, with Barry forced to feed off scraps.
Elsewhere, Christian Norgaard (£4.8m) made his Everton debut as a late second-half substitute.
He’s a budget midfielder to monitor, given his ability to amass DefCons.
