It’s time to cast our Scout Notes eye over two more midweek matches involving Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

Below, we pick out all the key moments and news from a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) standpoint.

• READ MORE: Szoboszlai on pens, Isak + Ekitike up top, Slot on Salah

TUESDAY’S RESULTS

SELECTION/ROTATION

KUDUS + XAVI TAKE PENALTIES

The major talking point(s) from Spurs’ morale-boosting 3-0 win over Slavia Praha came from 12 yards.

Spurs, alongside Aston Villa and Fulham, are one of just three sides yet to be awarded a penalty in the Premier League this season. That’s left us a little in the dark over who might be Thomas Frank’s first-choice taker – particularly with Dominic Solanke (£7.2m) still sidelined.

It’s evidently not Richarlison (£6.4m). He had missed the only spot-kick Spurs have been awarded this season, in last month’s Champions League win over FC Copenhagen.

And the Brazilian was present when Mohammed Kudus (£6.5m) – who had missed that aforementioned game – stepped up to convert in the 50th minute after Pedro Porro (£5.3m) was fouled. It suggests the Ghanaian may be the go-to guy.

Kudus (and Richarlison) had been subbed by the time Xavi Simons (£6.5m) was felled in the box about half an hour later. 

Having won that penalty himself, Simons was handed the ball by Spurs skipper Cristian Romero (£5.0m), and the Dutch playmaker – who wanted to take the first penalty before Kudus assumed responsibility – buried his effort from the spot, perhaps earning himself the back-up role.

“Yeah but it’s clearly decided [who was taking them] before. So that was no problem. It was exactly how it should be.” – Thomas Frank on if he would encourage Cristian Romero’s decisiveness in handing the ball to the penalty taker

Frank was pleased with both his summer signings, who, alongside Richarlison, were central to a few other chances on the night.

“I think [Simons] built on a good game on Saturday, produced again. Good link-up play, nice turns in the middle of the pitch and has acceleration to go past a player. I like his work ethic, there was a great recovery run on 90 minutes which is crucial.” – Thomas Frank on Xavi Simons

“Mo[hammed Kudus] did well at the start of the season then had a dip. Now, in the past three or four weeks, he’s got fresh energy, acceleration and decisiveness in his actions. Getting more in sync with the team too – all that is important.” – Thomas Frank on Mohammed Kudus

The sight of Kudus being withdrawn just shy of the hour mark may at first have filled Spurs fans with dread but there has been nothing to suggest that early sub was for anything other than a rest amid the busy festive period.

ROMERO THREAT + TIMELY BAN FOR VAN DE VEN

Building on a Gameweek 14 comeback draw at Newcastle and Gameweek 15’s win to nil over Brentford, which served as something of a breakout game for Simons (who grabbed a goal and assist), a victory and crucial sheet on Tuesday further eased the pressure on Frank.

Before the two successful spot-kicks, the north Londoners’ opener had come about when Romero – who earlier nearly assisted Kudus with a great through ball – flicked a Porro corner into a dangerous area and caused the visitors’ David Zima to head it into his own net. Romero had scored twice at Newcastle, remember.

The only real negative from this latest match was the yellow card picked up by Micky van de Ven (£4.7m), who will now be suspended for Spurs’ next UCL game at home to Borussia Dortmund just over a month from now. It’s not a negative for FPL owners, however: that pretty much ensures he’ll start for the two plum fixtures in Gameweeks 22 and 23. No repeat of the rest we saw in Gameweek 14, then.

Between now and then, a so-so run of games from now into the New Year will likely limit interest in Spurs assets somewhat.

It gives us time to assess whether recent results mark a turning of the corner – and whether we should consider Kudus and Xavi anew – or just the latest false dawn.

PEDRO BACK UP TOP AFTER DELAP INJURY

Tuesday proved to be a more disappointing night for another London outfit, whose manager lamented their conceding of “easy goals”.

Chelsea are now without a win in four games since their dismantling of FC Barcelona.

They took the lead midway through the first half when Joao Pedro (£7.3m) poked home his first Champions League goal from a low Reece James (£5.3m) cross. Pedro nearly bagged a late equaliser, too.

The Brazilian led the line for the full 90 minutes against Atalanta in light of Liam Delap’s (£6.2m) latest injury, with Marc Guiu (£4.2m) remaining an unused substitute.

The latest suggestions are that Chelsea remain hopeful Delap will have recovered from the shoulder injury he picked up against Bournemouth last weekend four weeks from now. Until then, it’s likely we’ll see some combination of Pedro and Guiu up top in most matches, probably more of the former than the latter. Don’t be surprised to see Guiu get minutes of some variety this weekend to assist Pedro against the low block of Everton.

JAMES IN MIDFIELD AGAIN

This was another match in which Enzo Maresca fielded natural right-back James in central midfield, and the Blues’ captain performed well again.

Sticking in some important tackles, he also came close to scoring on a couple of occasions, most notably when dragging a follow-up shot from the edge of the area narrowly wide after his first attempt had been blocked.

PALMER’S NIGHT OFF

With Cole Palmer (£10.3m) having only just returned to Chelsea’s starting line-up last Saturday, and lasting less than an hour when he did so, it was always unlikely that the England international would feature heavily just a few days later.

However, Palmer was not even included in the squad that made the midweek trip to Italy.

Instead, he was “left at home due to the club wanting to manage his workload,” according to the official line from Chelsea. Enzo Fernandez (£6.6m) pushed forward as a No10 in his absence, while Moises Caicedo (£5.8m) – still suspended in FPL – joined James as the holding midfielders.

He’ll probably still see his minutes managed over the next few weeks after missing a couple months through injury, but you’d imagine Palmer will be in contention to start at home to Everton this weekend, possibly shunting Enzo further back again if he does so.

WHY CHALOBAH AND FOFANA WERE SUBBED

Two of the five starting line-up changes that Maresca made were to Chelsea’s backline. A few more defensive swaps than that were required during the match.

From the start, Benoit Badiashile (£4.4m) replaced Wesley Fofana (£4.4m). Malo Gusto (£4.9m) was rotated out in favour of the versatile Josh Acheampong (£3.9m).

Acheampong hardly put a foot wrong – he was even the one whose stoppage time knock-down was nearly converted by Pedro – and showed the positional flexibility to offer his gaffer another option to Gusto at right-back that could enable James to continue in midfield more often.

There was an eye-catching half-time removal of Trevoh Chalobah (£5.3m), who has probably been Chelsea’s most solid centre-back this season.

Thankfully for him and his FPL backers, Maresca explained that there was no injury concern behind the early sub:

“It was a little bit planned, because Trev[oh Chalobah] is playing every game. So, it was to give [him] a little bit [of time] off. Also, because Trev was on a yellow card [since the 29th minute], so for both reasons.” – Enzo Maresca on substituting Trevoh Chalobah at half-time against Atalanta

Fofana replaced Chalobah, but he then lasted just 30 minutes before needing to be replaced himself – this time by Tosin Adarabioyo (£4.2m). Fofana suffered a kick to his eye and was struggling to see out of it, necessitating his unexpected withdrawal.

“He had a problem with his eye. It’s quite bad. He’s struggling to see. Hopefully he can be available for Everton on Saturday.”

“The change of Tosin [Adarabioyo] was because we needed to change Wes[ley Fofana]. For sure, with one more change there would have been a chance for Estevao [Willian] or Andrey [Santos] to come on and potentially change the game.” – Enzo Maresca