There were more home discomforts for Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, with the Lilywhites slumping to their third defeat of 2025/26 on their own soil.
With the key notes, quotes and stats from Chelsea’s win in north London, here are our latest Gameweek 10 Scout Notes.
MARESCA ON PEDRO
1.6 million Fantasy managers sold Joao Pedro (£7.4m) ahead of Gameweek 10. Only once this season has a player been transferred out by more FPL bosses in a single Gameweek.
It was almost inevitable what was going to happen next, then. Pedro not only ended his two-month goal drought but also ran wild with the chances.
He had five shots in all, more than he’d managed in the previous six Gameweeks combined.
Above: Joao Pedro’s Gameweek-by-Gameweek breakdown since his last goal
There were some big opportunities, too. On three occasions, he fired at Guglielmo Vicario (£5.1m) with the goal at his mercy. For all his undoubted talent, he’s not really a natural finisher: he’s underperformed on the (non-penalty) xG front for much of his career.
One gilt-edged chance did at least find the back of the net, when Moises Caicedo (£5.9m) won possession and teed up the Brazilian.
Can this kickstart his season? He was massively helped by some Spurs’ errors and high line; think the similarly profligate Nicolas Jackson and his hat-trick in north London two years ago.
The good news for Pedro is that it’s Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley next, two clubs in the bottom three for goals conceded – albeit the Clarets are much better on home soil.
With both sides potentially playing with a back five, he’ll likely have help up top, either in the form of Liam Delap (£6.2m) or Marc Guiu (£4.2m), but there is a school of thought that he is better as a ’10’ anyway.
Those niggles are an ongoing concern, however.
“Joao has never been a problem. The problem with Joao is that he’s not training every day, because he has problems. He has some problems that we are trying to manage. So it’s normal that then the consequence is that you cannot be 100% and fit every game.
“But I’m not worried about Joao, because Joao is a good player, he’s going to score goals. Even when he didn’t score, he had some good games. For instance, against Liverpool, I think he was also very good.
“Now we have Liam [Delap] back, that also can help us as a striker. So we have already a different option; that is a good thing for us because since we started, we are without Cole [Palmer], we have been two months without Liam. So, we need offensive players.” – Enzo Maresca on Joao Pedro
JAMES IN MIDFIELD, ENZO BACK IN THE ’10’
There was more points-dodging from Enzo Fernandez (£6.7m). He had two shots and created four chances, setting up one of Pedro’s missed sitters and himself nodding over from six yards.
Enzo was back in the ’10’ role here, although as mentioned above, it may be two of Pedro/Guiu/Delap against Wolves next week, with the Argentine midfielder back in a deeper role.
Here, the superlative Caicedo was partnered by Reece James (£5.5m). The Chelsea captain was excellent, crossing for Enzo’s big chance and firing narrowly over from distance.
“We needed a little bit more physicality in the middle. But it depends a little bit on the game plan. I think Rhys is doing fantastic when he’s playing midfielder, he’s doing fantastic when he’s playing full-back, and he’s doing fantastic in terms of leadership with the players inside the changing room.” – Enzo Maresca on playing Reece James in midfield
At the back, Trevoh Chalobah (£5.1m) prolonged his record of starting every league match he’s been available for this season. The rotation continued alongside him, with Wesley Fofana (£4.4m) becoming his latest partner. Josh Acheampong (£3.9m) made way.
Chalobah and Caicedo both banked DefCon points for the fourth and fifth time in 2025/26. No other Chelsea player has done so more than once.
SPURS’ RECORD-LOW XG
Chalobah was part of a Chelsea backline that limited Spurs to just three shots all game.
“I think the performance was very good, on the ball and off the ball. For sure, the way we tried to press was very important, but I also think that our game against Liverpool off the ball was a top game, was very good, and you need that. You need that if you want to be close to the top; you need to be defensively solid. As I said, we know that almost always we score goals, but we need also to try to concede less goals.” – Enzo Maresca
In fact, Spurs plumbed new depths when it came to expected goals (xG):
Mohammed Kudus (£6.7m) was the only bright spark, responsible for all three of Spurs’ efforts.
Spurs have been a strange, strange side to watch this season. Top of the league for away results, 17th at home. Owners of Manchester United players in FPL will be buoyed by the latter, as the Red Devils are in north London in Gameweek 11.
The Lilywhites were third in the Premier League table going into this match but it should be noted that our Fixture Ticker ranked their Gameweek 1-9 run as the easiest in the division. They sit bottom for their schedule in Gameweeks 10-18.
Thomas Frank cited the lack of “energy” after the midweek EFL Cup tie. Perhaps there was some truth in it: Chelsea made 10 changes on Wednesday, Spurs four. The depth just isn’t there right now, thanks to a lengthy injury list, although Cristian Romero (£5.0m) and Destiny Udogie (£4.4m) were at least fit enough for substitute duty on Saturday.
“We performed badly. I think we lacked energy and intensity and that freshness, we didn’t have that.
“[The xG] hurts massively. I’ve never been in charge of a team that created that little in one game, never. So that, of course, I will look into what we can do to make it better.” – Thomas Frank
XAVI SUBBED ON… AND OFF
It’s a season in which many big-money summer signings have flopped. Xavi Simons (£6.8m) has been among the disappointments, and Saturday’s display was one of his worst yet.
Coming on for the concussed Lucas Bergvall (£5.4m) early in the game, the substitute was substituted in the 73rd minute.
“There’s a reason why we didn’t start him, of course. I think he’s played two starts, short turnaround. Also, that energy and freshness I talked about, he played 90 minutes Wednesday night. So that’s why we decided that, and then he played 70 minutes here. So I think that was nothing. It’s just because it looks different when you come on after three minutes and get subbed off.” – Thomas Frank on Xavi Simons
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