Chelsea have warned their employees to be cautious about giving away team news through Fantasy Premier League (FPL) after Joao Pedro’s injury was seemingly leaked via team selections. The club reportedly sent out an email to their staff reminding them of the possible repercussions. Choosing players in games such as Fantasy Premier League could give away information about which players are injured or nearing a return.
This comes after there were leaks ahead of their 2-0 home loss to Tottenham last month, with Joao Pedro being a massive shock omission due to his quad injury. Several high-profile Fantasy Premier League content creators said they saw evidence that Morgan Rogers and several staff members left Joao Pedro out of their teams ahead of kick-off at Stamford Bridge.
At this point, there was no official news from the club about the Brazilian forward’s injury. Xabi Alonso, who has been tight-lipped about injuries since arriving in the summer, told BBC Sport after the match that he was unaware of the FPL situation.
Chelsea are unlikely to introduce any new rules for staff and players to stop them playing the game. They believe it was an isolated incident and can be prevented by increasing awareness among players and staff. The Premier League has strict rules in place against gambling but does not give any specific guidance to clubs on Fantasy Premier League. There are over 11 million players in the game.
This is not the first time Chelsea have had leaks about their team news. They had leaks about their starting XI ahead of both legs of their Champions League loss to Paris Saint-Germain last season, while Liam Rosenior was in charge. Marc Cucurella’s barber also leaked that Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer would be missing from their game against Brighton.
Chelsea Have Struggled In Attack Without Joao Pedro
Joao Pedro has not played since their league win over Everton in October. He has now missed four Premier League games this season. The Brazilian is Chelsea’s joint top scorer in the league this season with five goals, along with Rogers.
Their attack has looked poor without him. Alonso has been using Pedro Neto as a false nine in recent games. They have had an xG of 0.83 against Brentford, 0.47 against Tottenham and 0.53 against Sunderland. Their only win in these four games came against Manchester United, where they had an xG of 2.06.
They suffered another setback on Sunday, losing 1-0 to bottom side Sunderland to drop out of the top four. Alonso will be hoping that Joao Pedro can use the international break to recover ahead of their return to Premier League action later this month.