Chelsea head coach Xabi Alonso was caught off guard after Saturday's loss to Tottenham when asked whether he was aware that Joao Pedro's injury had been leaked through the popular Fantasy Premier League game. His response was: "I am not into the fantasy team thing, so I didn't know that." Accounts believed by FPL trackers to belong to Chelsea staff, a player and a relative of a player appeared to transfer out or bench Joao Pedro before the deadline. One Fantasy Premier League manager, known online as FPL Karim, was among those who believed they had identified information by tracking selections made by a relative of Chelsea forward Morgan Rogers.
He said: "There were rumours that a player was missing from Chelsea's attack. I went to check Rogers' team, but he'd sold Joao Pedro two or three gameweeks earlier when he was injured. He never bought him back.
"Then I checked his brother's FPL team and saw that he'd sold Joao Pedro that gameweek and brought in Nicolas Jackson. I thought it was a bit weird. Why would you sell him when he's one of the most-owned forwards in the game?
"That's when I felt maybe it was Joao Pedro who was missing out. I posted about it, it went viral, and that was basically it." Confirmation of the injury emerged after the FPL deadline had passed, meaning 1.7 million managers had already selected Joao Pedro as captain, which doubles a player's points return. The absence also came as a surprise to many following Chelsea's 2-0 defeat by Tottenham, given Joao Pedro had been pictured in training during the week before the match.
Alonso later said the striker had missed the game because of "fluid on his knee". Alonso is one of a number of managers who have become increasingly guarded when discussing team news in media conferences. Last month, he said: "I prefer not to give more information than needed." On that occasion, his side went on to lose 3-0 at Brentford, having kept several injury concerns, including one involving Joao Pedro, under wraps.
Yet such is the popularity of Fantasy Premier League - a game played by more than 11 million people according to official figures - that many staff members, players and relatives of footballers also take part. By identifying leagues or teams linked to players, staff or family members through the game, which provides an open database of participants, it can be possible to infer what is happening behind closed doors at various training grounds. Previously, the highest-profile case involved Jack Grealish's absence from Aston Villa's match against Leicester City in February 2021.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
