After running the rule over Liverpool’s win over Southampton, it’s time for more EFL Cup Scout Notes now.
This time, it’s Chelsea’s narrow victory over Lincoln City and the all-Premier-League clash at Molineux.
TUESDAY’S RESULTS
| Team | Opponent | Result | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | Lincoln City (a) | 2-1 win | George, Buonanotte | George |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | Everton (h) | 2-0 win | Munetsi, Arokodare | Arias, Joao Gomes |
| Everton | Wolverhampton Wanderers (a) | 0-2 loss | – | – |
SELECTION/ROTATION
| Team | No. of starting XI changes made from GW5 | Players who kept their places (mins played) | Mins for other players |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 8 | Fofana (90), Chalobah (90), Enzo (70) | Jorgensen (90), Gusto (90), Hato (90), Santos (90), Buonanotte (90), Gittens (70), George (70), Garnacho (59), Estevao (31), Cucurella (20), Neto (20), Mheuka (20), Walsh (1) |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 9 | Krejci (90), Bellegarde (90) | Johnstone (90), Doherty (90), S Bueno (90), H Bueno (90), Andre (87), Munetsi (81), Arias (81), Hwang (68), Strand Larsen (68), Arokodare (22), Rodrigo Gomes (22), Joao Gomes (9), Toti Gomes (9), Agbadou (3) |
| Everton | 7 | Tarkowski (90), Keane (90), O’Brien (90), Garner (90) | Travers (90), Iroegunam (90), Coleman (78), Dibling (58), McNeil (58), Alcaraz (45), Barry (45), Dewsbury-Hall (45), Beto (45), Grealish (32), Ndiaye (32), Mykolenko (12) |
NO PEDRO OR PALMER
There was no surprise that Joao Pedro (£7.8m) and Cole Palmer (£10.4m) were nowhere near the Chelsea squad at Sincil Bank.
Enzo Maresca said on Monday that Pedro and Moises Caicedo (£5.6m) were managing “small problems” ahead of the trip to Lincoln, although he didn’t seem unduly concerned. Pedro wasn’t involved, while Caicedo was an unused substitute.
As for Palmer, there was even less chance of him featuring on Tuesday night. There has been no official word from Chelsea as to the length of his absence, nor have many of the mainstream press reported anything of substance.
The usually well-connected Si Phillips suggests Palmer could be sidelined for 3-6 weeks, which would put him out for Gameweeks 6 and 7 at least, but it’s very much an unconfirmed timeline at present.
Palmer Injury Update 🚨
Palmer is expected to be out for 3-6 weeks according to @siphillipssport on Substack.
“Sources have heard that Palmer has a new tear in the same groin…”
If that’s the case, then 3-6 weeks is very likely for a typical muscle tear.
This is not confirmed… pic.twitter.com/DITVk2wtVR
— FPL Physio (@FPLPhysioo) September 23, 2025
Maresca didn’t comment on Pedro or Palmer in his post-match media duties.
GAMEWEEK 6 BOOST FOR TOSIN + SANCHEZ?
Only three Gameweek 5 starters kept their places for Chelsea in the EFL Cup. Two of them were the centre-halves, Trevoh Chalobah (£5.1m) and Wesley Fofana (£4.4m). Both got 90 minutes.
That’s potentially good news for Tosin Adarabioyo (£4.5m), given what Enzo Maresca said on Monday about his three stoppers. You couldn’t imagine the newly fit-again Fofana getting three starts in a week, for instance.
“I would love to rest both of them [on Tuesday] because they deserve to rest. The problem is that we also have Wes Fofana playing after a long time. So if we rest Tosin, if we rest Trev, and if we rest Wes, probably I need to play some part of the game. We don’t have defenders so some of them need to play.” – Enzo Maresca on Trevoh Chalobah and Wesley Fofana, in quotes reported by the BBC
A fourth option at centre-back, Josh Acheampong (£4.0m), had the flu. Tosin wasn’t in the squad at Lincoln, either, although there are no reports of any issue for him.
Between the sticks, Filip Jorgensen (£4.4m) got the chance to impress because of Robert Sanchez‘s (£5.0m) Gameweek 5 red card. Impress, he did not.
Flapping at Lincoln’s bombardment of aerial balls and crosses, Jorgensen had a shocker.
“I think that, I don’t know how many balls they put inside the box tonight, you know, throw-ins, free-kick, cross, so I think it was not easy for any goalkeepers, to be honest. And I think overall, even, you know, we conceded against Brentford in extra time from throw-ins, it’s not easy, it’s not easy because they bring so many players inside the box, they try to create chaos around the goalkeepers, so you cannot move, you cannot go out, you cannot catch the ball, it’s difficult.
“And also, you know, for Filip, I think it was the first game of the season, so not easy, but at the end, again, we won the game, I was very worried about this game.” – Enzo Maresca
BACK-UPS FAIL TO MAKE A CASE – AND WHERE WAS GUIU?
With eight or nine of the starting XI very likely to drop out in Gameweek 6, there weren’t too many takeaways from this match. Lincoln’s aerial approach is completely at odds with how Brighton and Hove Albion play, too.
Tyrique George (£4.9m) led the line, scoring and assisting but was otherwise ineffectual. Alejandro Garnacho (£6.4m) and Jamie Gittens (£6.2m) were unremarkable out wide, too, still very much in the adaptation/building fitness phase after summer moves. Facundo Buonanotte (£4.8m) was probably the pick of the front four, netting the second goal, but he’s ineligible to play this weekend.
There was no Marc Guiu (£4.3m) on Tuesday, meanwhile. It turns out he wasn’t cup-tied, despite an appearance for Sunderland in the last round. Perhaps trying to save face and mask the fact that they discovered Guiu’s availability too late to include him at Lincoln, Chelsea claimed the budget FPL forward had an injury:
WOLVES CHANGE SHAPE + STRAND LARSEN STARTS
(Above image from BBC Sport)
It’s five losses out of five for Wolves in the league but two wins out of two in the EFL Cup.
A change in system helped do the job on Tuesday but before we start proclaiming Wolves’ season to be officially kickstarted, this wasn’t a game high on quality at all.
Vitor Pereira ditched the wing-back system and moved to a 4-3-3 for this contest, rotating all but two players out of his side. Ladislav Krejcí (£4.5m) was one of them, the quietly impressive Czech dropping back from midfield to centre-half.
Jorgen Strand Larsen (£6.4m) also got his first start since August, getting through 68 minutes.
“I’m here not to please myself, but to find solutions, to try to put my players in comfortable positions, to feel comfortable, to play at their level. Today, I liked it. Sometimes we used to say that we need to change to get different things. Today, I think we did it. At this moment, we can use both formations.” – Vitor Pereira
Positional rival Tolu Arokodare (£5.5m) came on for the Norwegian and scored with a superb chip. Despite the striker lasting 90 minutes in Gameweek 5, Pereira remains cautious about his fitness.
“Of course, he is not in his shape physically speaking. Larsen today worked a lot for the team, and after Tolu went inside and he helped us. This is the spirit that I want to see.
“Tolu came in the moment that we didn’t have Jorgen to play. The plan was not to play with him 90 minutes, the plan was to give him time to adapt and to start getting minutes. He needs to work hard to get his condition, and he will help us.” – Vitor Pereira on Tolu Arokodare
EVERTON’S SECOND STRING FLOP
While many of Wolves’ nine replacements gave their manager something to think about, Everton’s second string did not.
The front four from the Merseyside derby were rotated out of the side, giving Charly Alcaraz (£5.3m), Dwight McNeil (£5.7m), Tyler Dibling (£5.5m) and Thierno Barry (£5.8m) the chance to impress. None of them lasted beyond 60 minutes.
David Moyes not-so-subtly blasted that quartet when praising the impact of substitutes like Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£5.0m), who created three chances, and Jack Grealish (£6.8m).
“It was a 0-0 game in the first half, we gave away a diabolical goal. Wolves were not better than us. They were for the first 10 minutes or so but the game was 0-0. We gave away a terrible first goal which altered things.
“We probably dominated most of the second half but couldn’t find a way of getting a goal.
“The players introduced [in the second half] made a huge difference. We want everyone to play at that level. We didn’t play at that level in the first half but I don’t think Wolves did either. I didn’t think they were necessarily better at that time.” – David Moyes
Most of Everton’s threat came from set plays. James Garner (£5.0m) cracked the bar with a free-kick, while Michael Keane (£4.5m) saw a header tipped over.
That set-play threat could come in handy this weekend, of course.
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