Chelsea warn staff over Fantasy Premier League leaks

The Premier League offers no specific guidance to clubs on how players and staff should use Fantasy Premier League (FPL), leaving individual teams to manage the risk of sensitive information being leaked.

With more than 11 million people playing the game, FPL has become an unexpected way for outsiders to spot potential squad changes and injuries through the team selections of club insiders.

Chelsea staff at Cobham were sent an email warning them against using inside information on public gaming platforms after João Pedro's quad injury was seemingly revealed through FPL selections.

Ahead of the 2-0 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on October 24, content creators noticed that forward Morgan Rogers and several members of staff had removed Pedro from their teams. At that point, Xabi Alonso had yet to confirm the striker's absence in his pre-match press conference. Pedro has not featured since, missing games against Liverpool, Manchester United and Sunderland.

Information security has been a recurring issue at Chelsea. Last season, during Liam Rosenior's four-month spell in charge, team selections were leaked ahead of both legs of the Champions League tie against Paris Saint-Germain. In another incident, Marc Cucurella's barber revealed on social media that Cole Palmer and Pedro would miss a trip to Brighton.

Similar patterns have been spotted at other clubs, including Arsenal, Liverpool, Leicester City and Newcastle United. One high-profile example came in February 2021, when Aston Villa forward Jack Grealish was left out of the squad for a match against Leicester City. Former Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers later confirmed he had been aware of rumours surrounding Grealish's absence before kick-off. Leicester went on to win the game.

Chelsea are not planning to introduce any further restrictions, viewing the latest incident as an isolated case that can be addressed by raising awareness among players and staff.