We continue our Sunday Scout Notes with key takeaways from Tottenham Hotspur 3-4 Chelsea and Ipswich Town 1-2 Bournemouth.
ROMERO, VAN DE VEN + JOHNSON INJURY UPDATES
Cristian Romero (£5.0m) and Micky van de Ven (£4.5m), Tottenham’s first-choice centre-back pairing, both returned to action on Sunday, albeit briefly.
Ange Postecoglou had previously said Romero could feature in Gameweek 15, but van de Ven’s inclusion was a real surprise, having been expected to return later this month.
However, both players had to be withdrawn, lasting 14 and 78 minutes respectively.
For Romero, it was a quad injury rather than the toe problem he’d just recovered from.
“Romero is just obviously hugely disappointing. He felt something in his quad. He trained really well. He wasn’t the one I was worried about, to be honest, but it’s just the way the season’s going for us unfortunately. So, we just have to wait and see.
“And then, well, the plan was always for Micky to play 60, 70 [minutes] today. Obviously, I thought Romero would be okay to play 90, but Micky, probably 60,70. So we were always going take him off. He didn’t feel anything significant. He just felt tightness, but we were always going to take him off anyway.” – Ange Postecoglou
In a further blow, Brennan Johnson (£6.7m) had to come off shortly after the start of the second half, having supplied the assist for Dominic Solanke‘s (£7.5m) opener.
“Brennan just didn’t feel well, he didn’t feel well at half time, but he wanted to give it a go, he just wasn’t feeling 100 per cent, so we had to take him off.” – Ange Postecoglou on Brennan Johnson
Johnson ‘should’ be okay for Sunday’s trip to Southampton, then, but one player who will definitely miss out is Yves Bissouma (£4.9m).
The midfielder picked up a booking against Chelsea, his fifth yellow card of the campaign. He’ll now serve a one-match ban.
PALMER, SANCHO + ENZO SUPERB
Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski (£6.3m) and Son Heung-min (£9.8m) were all on the scoresheet for Tottenham, but they were brutally exposed by Chelsea, who are going from strength to strength under Enzo Maresca.
With another four goals plundered in north London, the Blues have now scored 35 times in 15 league games this season, the most of any Premier League club.
They are also top for expected goals (xG), with 32.59.
Chelsea showed their quality in the second half, which coincided with Moises Caicedo (£4.9m) moving from right-back into central midfield and Benoit Badiashile (£4.3m) and Levi Colwill (£4.5m) switching sides at the heart of the defence.
It allowed Marc Cucurella (£5.1m) to invert from left-back into an attacking central midfield role, a tactic which caused chaos among Spurs’ backline.
“In the first half, we had Cole Palmer on one side and Enzo Fernandez on the other side. In the second half, we had Cole Palmer on one side and Cucurella on the other side. We changed something in behind [the attacking line]. It was just for this reason. I think it worked well in the end and we won the game.” – Enzo Maresca
Above: Chelsea’s passing network in the first (left) and second half (right) in Gameweek 15, including subs
Cole Palmer (£11.1m) struck two second-half penalties and supplied an assist to total 18 points, but Enzo Fernandez (£4.9m) and Jadon Sancho (£6.2m) were equally influential, scoring one apiece.
Enzo caused all sorts of problems in the pockets and has now racked up six attacking returns in his last five matches, while Sancho has definitely got his mojo back, having found the net in back-to-back Gameweeks.
“Since we started, I said the reason why Jadon came here is because we think Jadon is going to help us. Unfortunately, he had small problems, so he was out for a while. Now he is back and the only thing he has to do is continue in the same way. He cannot drop, otherwise he is not going to play. His performance and Pedro Neto’s, on and off the ball was very good. Off the ball, they were running, following Udogie and defensively they were very good. This is what we need.” – Enzo Maresca on Jadon Sancho and Pedro Neto
Pedro Neto (£6.2m) will be sidelined in Gameweek 16, however, having received his fifth yellow card of the season.
That could potentially open the door for a Noni Madueke (£6.3m) punt against leaky Brentford, although given Sancho and Neto’s recent form, it may be a short-term move.
BURGESS IMPRESSES IN GREAVES’ ABSENCE
Cameron Burgess (£4.0m) returned at centre-half for Ipswich Town on Sunday, forcing positional rival Jacob Greaves (£4.0m) out of the squad altogether.
That’s because Kieran McKenna doesn’t tend to have centre-backs on the bench if he can help it, instead preferring to include multiple attacking options.
Greaves’ future starting prospects weren’t helped by a superb Burgess display.
The 29-year-old was one of the best players on the pitch against Bournemouth, even providing the assist for Conor Chaplin’s (£5.1m) first-ever Premier League goal.
“Fantastic. I thought he was excellent in defence, how he defended the box, how he led but also some of his composure on the ball was really good as well, which is a good step for him. Like some of the other players who I mentioned and so many players in the group, he’s improving and he’s stepping up to the level and I’m really pleased with him today.” – Kieran McKenna on Cameron Burgess
Elsewhere, Liam Delap (£5.6m) blanked and is now just one yellow card away from suspension.
As for Bournemouth, it was the subs who made the difference, with Enes Unal (£5.4m) and Dango Ouattara (£5.0m) on the scoresheet late on.
Prior to that, the Cherries got plenty of joy down the left, with Milos Kerkez (£4.6m) and Antoine Semenyo (£5.7m) combining well.
Kerkez fizzed a lovely early ball across the six-yard box, which Marcus Tavernier £5.5m) somehow turned wide from a few yards out. The xG on that chance was given as 0.94!
Tavernier later hit the post, with Justin Kluivert (£5.5m) and Semenyo racking up four shots apiece.
“The subs gave us the end product that we were missing. We were arriving in the right places but not finishing. They finished well, we were almost in desperation mode at that point. We didn’t have much structure and it was just about trying to get something.” – Andoni Iraola