The three newly promoted sides and 20th-place Sunderland were all in action on Saturday in some early ‘six-pointer’ candidates.
Coventry City emerged triumphant in the battle of the bottom two, running out 3-1 winners against a Black Cats side guilty of hapless defending.
Meanwhile, Hull City and Ipswich Town shared four goals on Humberside.
Here are our Scout Notes from the CBS Arena and the MKM Stadium.
POOR SUNDERLAND DEFENDING – A GOOD SIGN FOR CHELSEA IN GAMEWEEK 10?
Coventry pulled themselves out of the relegation zone thanks to goals from Tatsuhiro Sakamoto (£4.8m), Taiwo Awoniyi (£5.4m) and Jack Rudoni (£4.9m).
Enzo Le Fée (£5.7m) snatched a late consolation from the penalty spot.
The Sky Blues did not exactly blow Sunderland away. Their xG was 0.69 compared with Sunderland’s 1.82, with the Black Cats attempting 17 shots to the hosts’ 12, but Lampard’s side benefited from sloppy defending to claim their third win of the campaign.
Sakamoto despatched a smart first-time finish, but the chance came from a misdirected clearance by Trei Hume (£4.2m), which rebounded off Luke O’Nien (£3.9m) and into the path of the Japanese midfielder.
There was more kamikaze defending for the second goal when O’Nien was caught napping on the ball by Awoniyi, who finished well, albeit with the help of a slight deflection.
Early in the second half, with Sunderland chasing the game, Coventry came forward and Rudoni tried his luck from 20 yards out, his effort taking a horrible deflection off Omar Alderete (£4.8m).
Playing in the absence of the concussed Nordi Mukiele (£5.4m), Alderete compounded a miserable afternoon by getting sent off for picking up two needless yellow cards in added time. That further reduces Regis Le Bris’ defensive options for Gameweek 10 – although Mukiele should be back for the weekend.
For Sunderland, this season marks a stark contrast to 2025/26, when they defended so impressively. It also makes Chelsea’s trip there next Sunday look much more favourable than it would have been last term.
ANOTHER RETURN FOR O’NIEN – BUT PLACE LOOKS AT RISK
By then, Sunderland had reduced the arrears after being awarded a penalty for a handball by Ethan Pinnock (£4.5m) from O’Nien’s shot. Le Fée’s spot-kick was emphatic and represented his second goal of the season – also a penalty.
It earned O’Nien an assist, to go with his clean sheet from the previous Gameweek. The defender had more shots (three) than any team-mate but well-priced though he is (no FPL defender is cheaper), Sunderland’s woeful defending here, an ominous forthcoming fixture run and the return of Mukiele should ward FPL managers off any notions of taking a punt on O’Nien’s differential potential.
“Bad result. Ups and downs, I think is the summary of this game and the season so far. We can play good football, and create some good chances, but we also made many unforced errors.
At this level, especially in the Premier League the opponent can seize ever single opportunity, and [Coventry] did that. It’s not a question of luck, it’s a question of us. We are too inconsistent at the minute to be efficient in this league.
“We gave two opportunities from two unforced errors. But this inconsistency is not acceptable at all. Consistency is the key word in this league. If you keep making individual mistakes, the opponent will kill you.
“Yeah, it is [frustrating], because it’s not the first time. So, it’s hard to handle, hard to address because it’s always different. Sometimes it’s this player, then it’s that player. First minute, last minute … we are not at the level at this minute.”
– Regis Le Bris
£4.9M MIDFIELDER RUDONI ON FORM
Rudoni continues to stand out as an excellent bargain midfield option. His goal may have taken a fortuitous deflection, but he was prepared to chance his arm by taking shots throughout this match.
He has now scored three times in the last four Gameweeks.
Rudoni also remains a threat from set-pieces; no midfielder has delivered more successful crosses from free-kicks as his five this campaign. Only four have had more big chances (five).
RUDONI SHOT MAP 2026-27
He even nearly banked DefCon points here:
NO THOMAS – AND NO UPDATE
Lampard will be especially delighted with the win given that he made four changes to the side.
With Bobby Thomas (£4.0m) out with a calf injury, Stephen Mfuni (£4.0m) came in at centre-back, while captain Matt Grimes (£4.8m) was dropped to the bench for the first time in his Coventry career in favour of Viktor Torp (£5.3m). Winger Yann Gboho (£5.5m) came in for Brandon Thomas-Asante (£5.0m) and Awoniyi took Sidiki Cherif’s (£5.0m) spot up front.
Lampard was particularly impressed by Mfuni’s display.
“Victor Torp has come in at a level which is an absolute example. He has his qualities anyway, I know that, and he has come in and continued how he is working day to day.
“Yann Gboho has come in on the left for us, and again, he needs to adapt to the league but he has shown some qualities that I really like.
“Stephen Mfuni playing at centre-back as well. We have some issues at centre back with big players for us missing, so it was great to see the players come together to get a result.”
“There are some players who I think are at a certain level and there are some players who are at another level. My opinion is he is a young lad, I don’t want to give him too much credit because it might maybe go to his head but he’s a lovely confident lad, who has settled in brilliantly. He’s also humble. He has a really nice way with him but that’s not even talking about his talent. He played today and brought confidence to the team. Those players always give off a good energy.
“If you look at someone like Steph, who’s said, I’m 18, I’m here, playing the way I’m playing, and that’s just how he is day to day. I’m delighted with him, he’s going to go a long way in the game.”
– Frank Lampard on his four changes
We didn’t get any real update on Thomas after full-time – and Mfuni’s display will give Lampard a headache at centre-half, as well as those FPL managers who own his injured teammate.
FOUR-GOAL FIESTA
There was nothing to choose between these sides as they kicked off this encounter level on 10 points for the season and neither could they be separated at the end of this lively 2-2 draw.
Ipswich took a deserved lead through Florentino’s (£4.8m) first Premier League goal. Hull responded with two goals in 10 second-half minutes, as Oli McBurnie (£5.5m) assisted Tim Iroegbunam (£5.0m) and then converted a direct free-kick. Julio Enciso (£5.5m) crowned a fine display with a long-range equaliser to ensure honours were even.
Ipswich have scored at least twice in eight of their 11 matches in all competitions this season and they demonstrated their front-footedness on Saturday by racing out of the blocks with an all-out assault on their hosts.
Gary O’Neil’s side had five shots and two big chances in the first half alone, compared to Hull’s two shots and zero big chances. So, it was no surprise when Florentino scored with a powerful shot at the near post after a nice run and assist by Abdoul Ouattara (£4.0m). Enciso thought he had made it 2-0 with a headed effort, only for the goal to be ruled out for a foul by Abdul Fatawu (£5.4m) on McBurnie.
Ipswich squandered another chance early in the second half when Emersonn (£5.5m) dragged a shot wide after being set up by the excellent Enciso. But the visitors’ defence opened up to allow Iroegbunam the freedom of the MKM Stadium and meander on to McBurnie’s through-ball to score.
The home side somehow took the lead thanks to McBurnie’s low free-kick, but although Hull improved in the second half, a third win of the campaign would have been hard on the Tractor Boys, who salvaged a point thanks to a wonderstrike into the top corner from Enciso.
“We were the better side, we should have punished them more in the first half. We gifted them two goals, then we responded unbelievably well.
“The goals [we conceded] were the only real disappointing part, a lot of errors for goals which has cost us but in terms of coming away from home, dominating the game, defending, attacking, I thought the lads were very good today.
“We knew they [Hull] would change [at half-time] and they were better than in the first half but they still were not better than us, we were the better team. It’s a point on the road and I’ve watched a lot of Hull’s games and not a lot of teams were as good with the ball as we were.
“I’m really pleased with where my team is at after that today. We were the better team away from home and that takes some doing. It’s tough to be in control and find yourselves 2-1 down with the place bouncing. Our lads have some character and we just need to keep it up. Hull are a very good side and I’m really pleased with how we did against them.”
– Gary O’Neil
ENCISO UNPLAYABLE
Enciso was unquestionably the man of the match. His seven chances created were at least three more than any other player in the Gameweek, while no player created more Opta-ranked big chances than his two.
Most chances created in Gameweek 9
Indeed, only one player in the Gameweek had more shots than the five of the South American, who was also unfortunate to have a goal ruled out before he unleashed a 20-yard thunderbolt that left Konstantinos Tsolakis (£4.7m) with no chance.
Most shots in Gameweek 9
Enciso has scored in back-to-back Gameweeks and is worthy of differential consideration, given Ipswich’s ability to score, regardless of the opposition.
“Great goal. You can see he has that flair and that quality, which is why you have to let him do things.
“We give him real structure, he understands his role out of possession and he’s excellent at it. With the ball, he might lose it a couple of times and he might make the wrong decision. He might turn down a pass. But there’s no way I’m going to coach Julio Enciso to play safe passes all the time.
“I want him to be what he is. We’ll try and help him with his decision-making, because you can’t always beat three players and put it in the top corner with your wrong foot! But he can do that. So you have to embrace that. You have to embrace the flair. That’s why we brought him in. There are not many number 10s that have his ability and who also do the defensive work the way he does.
“There are bits of his game that he knows he still needs to improve, but I’m pleased with him.” – Gary O’Neil on Julio Enciso
Bargain-bin defender Ouattara, incidentally, has now either scored or assisted in three of his last four matches.
EGAN INTO MIDFIELD!
Hull manager Sergej Jakirovic reacted to the first-half onslaught by advancing John Egan (£4.1m) into midfield after half an hour, which helped alleviate the pressure.
“They overloaded us in the midfield in the first half and that was the biggest problem. After 30 minutes we did it with [John] Egan into midfield and we showed a bit more. At half-time, we changed the system and started to be much more aggressive and on the front foot as a group.” – Sergej Jakirovic
MCBURNIE ON MORE SET PIECES
He was also indebted to McBurnie, who is enjoying a decent campaign leading the line for the Yorkshire side, and beginning to deliver the end product Hull have been seeking ever since their defensive resolve evaporated.
McBurnie has produced two goals and three assists, and it’s worth noting he is now on direct free-kicks as well as penalties.
He is, alas, also on four bookings.
Considering how the Tigers started the season – with two wins and three straight clean sheets – improvements are needed at the back. Their Hull defenders no longer offer the promise they were teasing three months ago.
That said, Semi Ajayi (£4.2m) has returned back-to-back DefCon points, while Nobel Mendy (£4.1m) has achieved DefCon in four of his six starts this season. He just needs to stay fit.
Egan, meanwhile, is the most dependable returner of DefCon, with 10 such points amassed to date, but he only achieved six on Saturday, presumably as a result of having been pushed upfield.
