Liverpool win again as Jurgen Klopp throws Fantasy managers a curveball or two, while Southampton bounce back from a chastening midweek loss in fine style.
Swansea City also save their summer best until last, and Stoke City come from behind to win in Germany, but crowd trouble ends Burnley’s pre-season prematurely.
Here’s the first set of notes from the final pre-season Saturday.
Liverpool 3 Athletic Club 1
Liverpool’s impressive summer ended with another win on the pitch which created all manner of Fantasy confusion off it.
Goals from Roberto Firmino, Ben Woodburn and Dominic Solanke sealed the victory, with the latter pair also providing assists.
But the nature of the first strike was where all the Fantasy trouble began.
Firmino was felled in the area, picked himself up and slotted home the penalty. He’d done the same in the previous match against Atletico Madrid, which raised few eyebrows because regular penalty taker James Milner wasn’t on the pitch.
But Milner was most definitely playing when the Brazilian opened the scoring against Bilbao.
The possibility that Milner may have relinquished spot-kick duites has almighty Fantasy repercussions.
Firmino, available for 8.5 in Fantasy Premier League and a rather more chunky 11.6m in the Sky game, has been a popular pick for first-day sides.
His pre-season had been a low-key affair involving no goals and three assists before he opened his scoring account from the spot in Wednesday’s Atletico match.
Should he become Liverpool’s first-choice penalty taker, his stock will surely rise further from an already solid base of 16.9% FPL ownership.
Milner scored seven penalties out of seven last season, and his reclassifiction from a midfielder for this campaign had him among the early front runners for most-owned FPL defender, despite a hefty 6.5 (9m in Sky) price tag.
But the surprising revival of Alberto Moreno’s Anfield career – he has started and shone in the least two matches – and the arrival of Andrew Robertson from Hull City has created major competition for the left-back slot.
Losing penalty duties would be a disastrous blow to Milner’s Fantasy appeal, as reflected in his now shrug-inducing 5.3% FPL ownership.
And yet Milner started in midfield yesterday, with Jurgen Klopp having this to say post-match:
“Alberto Moreno is 100 percent back, which is very nice after a really difficult year. Andrew Robertson shows all the skills he has, of course he still has to adapt to our way of playing but you can already see what a threat he can be offensively. That means Milly is free for midfield, so without being in the transfer market we have a new midfield player, which is nice.”
Nice indeed. Should FPL defender Milner end up playing out of position this season, it would be a supreme irony given his stellar performances from left-back last year didn’t yield the FPL points they probably deserved because of his previous midfield classification.
But competition for Liverpool midfield places is, of course, very fierce.
Milner will presumably vie for one of the roles in Klopp’s central three playing behind the trio of attackers. He will therefore battle with Emre Can, Jordan Henderson, Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana and Georginio Wijnaldum for a starting role.
Lallana’s injury and the absence of Henderson and Coutinho – through illness and a back problem respectively – cleared the decks for Milner, but it remains to be seen if he can cement a start once competition ramps up, or if Klopp simply reverts his vice captain to left-back to protect his start.
But being taken off penalties – if that’s truly the case – remains a major loss for Milner, not entirely offset by out-of-position promise.
However, Milner himself was quizzed on the spot-kick scenario post-match and when asked if the switch of duties to Firmino had been pre-arranged, he came back with this….
“Not really. He won it and had scored a couple in midweek. I asked him if he was feeling confident and he said yes. We all practise them and I am very confident when he steps up. As long as the ball ends up in the back of the net, that’s the most important thing.”
That would indicate that there has been no “official” re-allocation of Liverpool’s penalties and Milner may well continue to have a say – a thickening plot that leaves us guessing heading into the Gameweek 1 trip to Watford.
Klopp fielded an almost entirely different team for the second-half on Saturday and, as well as Coutinho and Henderson, he was without Daniel Sturridge with a muscle problem picked up against Atletico.
Elsewhere, while Liverpool’s left-back role looks up for grabs for the opening day trip to Watford, Trent Alexander-Arnold, a 4.5 FPL bargain (6.8m in Sky), started on the right against Bilbao and looks the prime candidate to do so again at Vicarage Road. Nathaniel Clyne is almost certain to miss out with a muscle problem.
Liverpool XI: Mignolet; Alexander-Arnold (Flanagan 46), Matip (Gomez 46), Lovren (Klavan 46), Moreno (Robertson 46); Can (Wijnaldum 46), Milner (Ejaria 46), Grujic (Woodburn 46); Salah (Mane 46), Firmino (Kent 46), Origi (Solanke 46).
Southampton 2 Sevilla 0
From the ridiculous to the sublime…after crashing and burning in a 4-0 home loss to FC Augsburg on Wednesday, Southampton bounced back to humble rather more prestigious opponents yesterday.
The Augsburg debacle had some Fantasy managers running for the hills and dumping their Saints assets, although the double-figure FPL ownership on Cedric held relatively firm as their man had taken no part in the beating.
The Portuguese right-back finally returned for the Sevilla match, part of a strong line-up selected by Mauricio Pellegrino that also included Ryan Bertrand, James Ward-Prowse, Dušan Tadić, Nathan Redmond and Manolo Gabbiadini – all of them serious contenders to be in opening-day Fantasy squads in view of Southampton’s fantastic early schedule.
And by ‘early’, that actually means only Manchester United and Liverpool are truly taxing fixtures in the first 12 Gameweeks.
Confidence in both the squad and Fantasy managers’ minds will have been restored by the Sevilla win, with goals coming from defender Jack Stephens and Manolo Gabbiadini.
The much-maligned Italian striker, last season’s run-in troll, played as a lone striker in Pellegrino’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation and also set up the opener when he flicked on a Ward-Prowse corner. Steven Davis provided the other assist.
Gabbiadini started ahead of Charlie Austin for the first time in pre-season and, at 7.0 in FPL (10.3m in Sky), could be a major mid-priced asset if he can take advantage of those inviting early fixtures.
In fact, the same could be said for the majority of the Saints line-up, with defenders Stephens, Cedric and Maya Yoshida all available for 5.0 in FPL and the set-piece taking midfielder Ward-Prowse costing just 5.5.
Southampton have lacked consistency over the summer – perhaps not surprising as Pellegrino is new to both the job and the country – but their final flourish of pre-season puts their players right back in the Fantasy mix ahead of next Saturday’s visit by Swansea City.
Southampton XI: Forster; Cedric (Flannigan 63), Yoshida (Bednarek 63), Stephens, Bertrand (McQueen 83); Davis, Romeu; Ward-Prowse (Long 73), Tadic, Redmond (Boufal 67); Gabbiadini (Gallagher 83).
Swansea City 4 Sampdoria 0
Southampton’s opening-day opponents signed off for the summer with an impressive mauling of their Serie A visitors.
Leroy Fer opened the scoring when he headed home from a Tom Carroll corner, before an own goal and strikes from Tammy Abraham and Federico Fernandez completed the rout.
Abraham’s goal marked a fine home debut for the Chelsea loanee and would have delighted the 3.6% of FPL managers who are looking to him to be their budget third striker for the early season. Even his withdrawal with a knock won’t have dampened that enthusiasm as his substitution was precautionary.
But it was Carroll who shone the brightest as he set up no less than three of the Swans’ goals.
The former Spurs man is this season’s potential bargain midfield gem, available for just 4.5 in FPL and 7.1m in Sky.
He looks a nailed-on starter in a midfield in which he is exerting a major influence. Add in his dead-ball duties, and there’s a lot to love.
Swansea’s first 10 matches are also generally favourable, with trips to Spurs and Arsenal and a visit from Man United the only major obstacles.
They have been quietly going about their business since an early pre-season loss to Barnet. However, the only two players who have attracted major attention have been Gylfi Sigurdsson (8.4%) – because of who he is and where he’s likely to end up – and Angel Rangel (21.3%) because he’s just so damned cheap at 4.0 (5.8m in Sky).
Abraham and Carroll, however, might change all that by the time they line up at Southampton next weekend.
On Abraham’s knock – manager Paul Clement brought us this post-match….
“Tammy coming off was more a precaution than anything. He felt a bit tight in the groin so rather than risk it, he said he wanted to come off.”
The Swans boss also indicated the striker Fernando Llorente – while ruled out of the Southampton clash – could return for the first home match of the season against Manchester United.
“We want Fernando back as quickly as possible – I am looking forward to having options with Fernando, Tammy, Jordan Ayew and also Oli McBurnie. Luciano Narsingh also came on and did well today. That’s what I want. I would like to have Fernando back for Manchester United, but he will be touch and go.”
Swansea City XI: Fabianski; Naughton (Rangel 88), Fernandez, Mawson, Olsson (Kingsley 77); Britton (Mesa 58), Fer (Fulton 88), Carroll, Routledge; Ayew (McBurnie 85), Abraham (Narsingh 74).
RB Leipzig 1 Stoke City 2
Xherdan Shaqiri was at the heart of Stoke City’s come-from-behind victory at Champions League-bound Leipzig.
The Swiss international’s deliveries set up both Stoke goals – a Mame Diouf header and an own goal.
Mark Hughes again rolled out a 3-4-2-1 formation, with Saido Berahino leading the line and Bojan and Shaqiri working as an attacking pair behind him.
That midfield pair could yet tempt some mid-price interest should they cement starting roles in that set-up. Bojan did depart with an injury, however.
Meanwhile, Diouf was once more employed as a wing-back, at the expense of Glen Johnson, which completely crushes the striker’s already negligible Fantasy appeal while also denting Johnson’s prospects.
However, Geoff Cameron’s potential as a 4.5 defender is alive and well. He started as part of the back three, with fellow defender Erik Pieters (5.0) deployed at left wing-back.
Despite Cameron’s availability in this price bracket, and the promise shown by Bojan and Shaqiri, Stoke’s horrendous early schedule of Everton, Arsenal, Man United and Chelsea in the first six Gameweeks, kills off any initial interest.
Elsewhere, in-form striker Joselu, who had scored four goals in the previous two matches, was an unused sub amid speculation that Newcastle United are showing firm interest in him.
Stoke City XI: Butland; Zouma, Shawcross, Cameron; Diouf (Johnson, 80), Allen, Fletcher, Pieters; Bojan (Ramadan, 63), Shaqiri (Adam, 80); Berahino (Crouch, 73).
Burnley 1 Hannover 96 0 (Match abandoned at half-time)
Crowd trouble in the away fans’ section led to the abandonment of Burnley’s final pre-season match of the summer with the Clarets leading 1-0.
Popular defender Ben Mee – owned by 12.1% of FPL managers – had opened the scoring from a Robbie Brady assist before the match was called off at the interval on the advice of the police.
Brady – a 5.5 midfield option – has now scored three goals and provided a pair of assists over the summer. He appears to have cemented a starting role in time for the season opener with Chelsea.
Elsewhere, Scott Arfield made his first start of pre-season following his Gold Cup duties with Canada, while Ashley Westwood also played from the off in a four-man midfield after recovering from a knock.
Boss Sean Dyche opted to field Andre Gray and Jonathan Walters up front, ahead of striking rivals Sam Vokes and Ashley Barnes, and James Tarkowski’s start alongside Mee at the heart of the defence would suggest that is the Burnley manager’s preferred centre-back combination.
Burnley XI: Heaton; Lowton, Mee, Tarkowski, Ward; Cork, Westwood, Brady, Arfield; Gray, Walters.
Be sure to check out all the summer action in our Pre-Season Guide.
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