Kicking off our Gameweek 15 Scout Notes, it’s the stalemate between Bournemouth and Chelsea.
SENESI INJURY UPDATE
Bournemouth have been haemorrhaging goals of late, so Saturday’s clean sheet was a welcome one. It was a very solid defensive performance, too, in which they restricted Chelsea to zero big chances and 0.92 xG.
Marcos Senesi (£5.0m) not only banked a clean sheet but also his customary defensive contribution (DefCon) points. That’s a league-best 22 such points for 2025/26, now.
Senesi only just got to the all-important hour mark. Hitting the deck and needing medical treatment in the 57th minute, he attempted to play on before admitting defeat five minutes later.
Andoni Iraola hopes it was just cramp but he’s not 100% sure yet.
“We will have to assess him these days. He was feeling cramps. I have my hopes because he didn’t feel something specific but we have to make sure that there is no small injury there.
“I think we need him. He’s very important for our way of playing. He has played a really good game today and I hope that just the demands of the game physically were so big that he just has felt the cramps in the quad and there is no injury there – but I don’t know.” – Andoni Iraola on Marcos Senesi, in his post-match presser
“Probably we will have to run an MRI or something to see if there is a small injury in the quad but it has happened before to him. It was a very demanding game.” – Andoni Iraola on Marcos Senesi, to BBC Radio Solent
DELAP INJURY GOOD FOR £4.2M FORWARD GUIU?
Chelsea lost a player to injury even earlier in the game.
Liam Delap (£6.2m) came off worst in a tangle with Senesi, with his shoulder giving him plenty of bother as he exited the field.
On came not Joao Pedro (£7.4m) but Marc Guiu (£4.2m), who got almost an hour and didn’t do much worse (faint praise…) than the man he replaced.
If Delap is out for any length of time, it can only boost Guiu’s minutes. With the schedule so busy over December, indeed, it may even lead to the odd start – although it’s worth pointing out that, even when Joao Pedro and Delap were benched against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League recently, Maresca went with Pedro Neto (£7.2m) up top.
“Yeah, unfortunately, he was already out two months and he has to be out again. We don’t know for how long, but it looks quite bad, his shoulder.
“Also, we are a bit unlucky because we need that kind of a No.9. We tried today with Marc [Guiu].” – Enzo Maresca on Liam Delap
PALMER RUSTY + NETO THE LONE THREAT
In truth, Delap and then Guiu were part of a pretty subdued Chelsea attacking performance. This was the first time they hadn’t scored since Gameweek 1, so we’ll maybe let them off.
Cole Palmer (£10.3m) had some mitigation, too: this was his first start since September, so there was some understandable ring rust. He produced a tame shot from outside the box with his one effort of the game, and didn’t see 60 minutes.
We can’t judge him on this fitness-boosting outing – but similarly, he’s not someone who has put himself back on the FPL radar just yet.
“I think it was good. Now I think the target for him is to build the physical condition.” – Enzo Maresca on Cole Palmer’s first start
The only real spark in the Chelsea attack was Neto, and even he wasn’t brilliant. He did, however, create most of the Blues’ key moments. A cross that Marc Cucurella (£6.2m) headed narrowly over. Another delivery that Alejandro Garnacho (£6.4m) nodded against the post. A shot of his own, repelled smartly by Djorde Petrovic (£4.5m). And, in fact, it was from Neto’s run and pass that Palmer’s shot was saved.
So, no return after his recent burst of goals and assists, but he was the likeliest to make something happen.
Above: Players sorted by chances created (CC) at the Vitality on Saturday
SIGNS OF LIFE FROM SEMENYO
Antoine Semenyo‘s (£7.7m) name appears on the above table, too.
Unlike Neto, he hasn’t got the recent form against his name. But like Neto, he was his side’s main instigator on Saturday.
As the FPL exodus continues, this was probably his best performance in months. Lively down the left, he brought two fine saves out of Robert Sanchez (£4.8m), teed Marcus Tavernier (£5.5m) up for a chance that went narrowly wide, and saw a goal chalked off for offside.
Much like last weekend, Semenyo’s owners were left cursing Evanilson (£7.0m). For similar reasons, too: the Brazilian should have held his run for the goal that Semenyo had ruled out, while the profligate forward somehow missed the below chance – even if he was stretching – that would have given the Ghanaian winger an assist.
All in all, Semenyo contributed to eight of Bournemouth’s 13 shots: a game-high five of his own, plus three set up for others.
Iraola interestingly opted for defender Alex Jimenez (£4.5m) as a right-winger on Saturday. The Cherries’ boss effectively said after the match that it was mostly to help combat Chelsea’s attacking strengths, so it’s maybe not an ‘out of position’ experiment we’ll see continued.
MARESCA ON CHALOBAH + FOFANA
Trevoh Chalobah (£5.2m) has still started every Premier League match he’s been available for this season. If it’s security of starts you’re after, he’s probably Chelsea’s best bet at the back.
A clean sheet was supplemented by DefCon and bonus points, so he’s now up to third in the FPL defenders’ points table.
Week-in, week-out starts are certainly not something Wesley Fofana (£4.4m) can offer, as Chelsea seek to protect him. He is Chalobah’s main partner right now, but as Gameweek 14 showed, he’ll frequently drop out of the side to save him from getting injured.
“At the moment, yeah. At the moment, I think in the last four or five clean sheets we had, they were always there. They are doing very good.” – Enzo Maresca on whether Trevoh Chalobah and Wesley Fofana are his first choices
