An ultimately routine win for Chelsea over managerless Wolverhampton Wanderers saw the Blues temporarily climb to second in the Premier League table.
Here are our Scout Notes from Stamford Bridge.
MARESCA ON NETO, CAICEDO + ENZO
Another week, another round of injury updates from Enzo Maresca.
Several of his squad have managed niggling issues in recent weeks, two of whom, Enzo Fernandez (£6.7m) and Pedro Neto (£7.1m), requested to be taken off on Saturday.
So, any alarm at seeing flags appear against their names in FPL has to be tempered by the knowledge that it’s often more about pain/injury management.
“Pedro Neto and Enzo, they asked for a change. Because Pedro [Neto] had a problem with his groin. And Enzo had a problem with his knee. So we need to see how they are now.” – Enzo Maresca
Enzo has since pulled out of the Argentina squad, which gives him two weeks to rest before a hectic December.
🚨 Enzo Fernández: “It’s best decision to rest these two weeks for my knee. In the last week I suffered a lot of pain”.
“These two weeks I recovered as much as I could. I will recover as much as I can when I am 100% back to training and playing with my team”. pic.twitter.com/BBnY2lWzro
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) November 9, 2025
Joao Pedro (£7.5m) and Moises Caicedo (£6.0m) have also struggled with chronic issues in recent weeks. There were worries that Caicedo may have suffered a recurrence of his own problem when he began hobbling about the field but Maresca gave him a clean bill of health.
“He was okay. He was okay. Just a kick, first half, in his knee. But he finished the game. I asked him after the game if he was okay.” – Enzo Maresca on Moises Caicedo
DELAP + THEN NETO UP FRONT
Pedro made it three starts in the space of a week on Saturday, scoring again.
He was positioned as a ’10’, with Liam Delap (£6.2m) initially ahead of him. When the rusty-looking Delap came off after an hour, Neto went up front.
Maresca explained his reasoning afterwards, citing Pedro’s ongoing problems.
“The reason why we put Pedro [Neto] as a 9 is because João Pedro was not completely fit to continue to press in the way we were pressing with Liam [Delap]. So the idea was to put Pedro [Neto] and continue to be aggressive with Pedro [Neto].” – Enzo Maresca
Looking further ahead, is Gameweek 13 the time to move off Chelsea players? Leeds United is a favourable match in Gameweek 14 but it’s the middle fixture in a Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday run, with Arsenal and Bournemouth on either side. You would not be surprised if Maresca spared the likes of Pedro and Enzo at Elland Road:
There was a spot of rotation on Saturday, indeed, with Malo Gusto (£4.9m) at right-back and Reece James (£5.5m) benched. James had lasted 90 minutes in both of the preceding two games.
MORE POINTS-DODGING FROM ENZO
While Chelsea took their time to break the deadlock, this was dominance from minute one.
Wolves had just three shots all game (none in the first hour), with Robert Sanchez (£4.8m) barely troubled.
Enzo Fernandez owners will be sick of hearing it but he was again in the thick of things despite blanking.
A corner of his was cleared off the line, he was inches away from forcing a Wolves own goal, he created a huge chance that Alejandro Garnacho (£6.4m) spurned, and he had more shots (five) than anyone on show at Stamford Bridge.
Garnacho was lively, assisting goals for Gusto and the in-form Neto (four returns in as many matches for him). Estevao (£6.5m) offered his usual bright cameo as the clamour for Premier League starts grows louder.
Substitute Marc Guiu (£4.2m) could have got in on the act with two late sitters, while Pedro had presentable chances on either side of his goal.
But does a commanding performance mean much against the worst side in the division? Even Burnley away will be a trickier test, with the Clarets stubborn on their own soil.
