Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur are poised – but not yet confirmed – to blank in Gameweek 26 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
Their scheduled Premier League meeting on Friday 23 February will have to be postponed due to Chelsea’s involvement in the EFL Cup final two days later.
The Blues breezed into a Wembley meeting with either Liverpool or Fulham by thrashing Middlesbrough on Tuesday night.
PALMER BRACE
Trailing Middlesbrough 1-0 from the first leg at the Riverside, Mauricio Pochettino’s side hammered the Championship outfit 6-1 in west London.
The hosts were 4-0 up at half-time, with Cole Palmer (£5.8m) scoring a goal in each half.
Operating in the ‘hole’ behind lone striker Armando Broja (£4.9m), Palmer scored with his only two shots of the game.
Despite the tie effectively being over at the interval, Palmer lasted the entire 90 minutes.
Ben Chilwell (£5.4m), not long back from injury, got 65 minutes under his belt and impressed.
Stationed at left-back, rather than ‘out of position’ further up the flank, Chilwell still managed to get forward on occasion. It was he who was clobbered by Boro goalkeeper Tom Glover when making one of his trademark diagonal runs (no penalty was given!), while the former Leicester City defender then supplied the telling pass that led to Chelsea’s own-goal opener.
Axel Disasi (£4.9m), in for the injured Malo Gusto (£4.2m) at right-back, got forward just as much, scoring from one of his two shots.
Enzo Fernandez (£4.8m) and substitute Noni Madueke (£5.3m), on for the ineffectual Mykhailo Mudryk (£6.3m) at the break, were also on the scoresheet.
COULD CHELSEA V SPURS STILL BE IN GAMEWEEK 26?
There is a possibility that Chelsea v Spurs remains in Gameweek 26.
As seen in Legomane’s graphic above, the FA Cup fifth round will take place in the midweek after Gameweek 26/the EFL Cup final.
If both Spurs and Chelsea are eliminated by Manchester City and Aston Villa in their FA Cup fourth-round ties this Friday, that midweek would become free to house their postponed league meeting.
However, given that it’s a televised Premier League clash chosen by Sky Sports, the likelihood is that the broadcaster won’t want it to come up against any televised cup ties.
IS DOUBLE GAMEWEEK 25 A POSSIBILITY?
Bringing forward Chelsea v Spurs to Gameweek 25 is a possibility but again, the fixture would be going up against televised matches in the UEFA Champions League.
The game may instead be held back till later in the season, when there is a free midweek (Gameweek 34/37, for instance) with no other cup competitions taking place.
GAMEWEEK 26 DEADLINE CHANGE
The deadline for Gameweek 26 was set to be 18:30 GMT on Friday 23 February but will now change to 13:30 GMT on Saturday 24 February.
WHO ELSE COULD BLANK IN GAMEWEEK 26?
There’ll be one other Gameweek 26 match postponed: either Liverpool v Luton Town or Manchester United v Fulham.
Liverpool and Fulham meet in an EFL Cup semi-final second leg on Wednesday night, with the Reds 2-1 up going into the game at Craven Cottage.
The winner of that tie, and their scheduled Gameweek 26 opponents, would also be poised to blank as a result.
