Swansea take a step closer to the Europa League group stages after Michu and Wilfried Bony bag three goals between them in a home hammering of Malmo. A much-changed City side fall to defeat against Bayern Munich, Chelsea see off Inter thanks to goals from Oscar and Eden Hazard and West Brom’s winning streak comes to an after a narrow loss to Italian outfit Genoa:
Swansea 4 Malmo 0
Michael Laudrup’s side ran out comfortable winners in the first leg of their Europa League third round qualifier last night. In defence, Jordi Amat continued alongside Ashley Williams at centre-half for the Swans, with Chico only fit enough for the bench after a recent thigh complaint, while Ben Davies got the nod over Neil Taylor at left-back. Elsewhere, Laudrup opted for Jonjo Shelvey (who seems to have a share of corners) in a deeper, midfield berth, Michu tucked in behind Wilfried Bony, though Pablo Hernandez missed out due to a thigh injury, allowing Wayne Routledge and Nathan Dyer the flank roles.
Michu opened his account for the season after tucking away a superb Routledge through ball before new boy Bony took centre stage in the second-half. The summer signing scored twice – Routledge and Michu picked up an assist apiece – before he teed up fellow new boy Alejandro Pozuelo for the hosts’ fourth to no doubt pique the interest of a few new Fantasy owners.
The Swans have now won all eight of their games over the summer and are approaching their Gameweek 1 home clash against United in fine form. After the match, Laudrup couldn’t hide his delight with the result before going on to discuss the importance of his squad over the upcoming campaign:
“I’m very pleased. It’s very difficult not to be satisfied with that and no goals conceded as well, which was very important. Perfect isn’t often used in football, but that was about as close as you can get tonight. Two goals from our new striker, Michu is back scoring and no injuries either. If we win 4-0, despite them not knowing each other that well, it can’t be a bad night….There are so many different games. You play home and away, against different styles, but we have a lot of alternatives right now. Even without the Europa League, you still need that depth. From game to game, you get phases in November and December where there are a lot of cup games.”
Chelsea 2 Inter 0
Having rolled out a 4-3-3 for the previous friendly, Jose Mourinho reverted to a 4-2-3-1 formation against his former club. Branislav Ivanovic got the nod at right-back, Marco Van Ginkel started for the second successive match, partnering Ramires in the double-pivot, while Eden Hazard, Oscar and Victor Moses lined up behind the in-form Romelu Lukaku. In his first match of the pre-season – due to his participation in the Confederations Cup with Brazil – Oscar needed little time in reminding Fantasy mangers of his worth. Handed the role in “the hole”, he fired home a superb opener after being teed up by Moses with 12 minutes on the clock, while the latter also played a part in Chelsea’s second; a foul on the Nigerian allowed Eden Hazard the chance to double the Blues’ lead from the spot.
Mourinho made eight changes over the second half, introducing more Confederations Cup players, with the likes of Juan Mata (replacing Oscar in the central position), Cesar Azpilicueta, Fernando Torres and David Luiz picking up their first minutes of the summer. The Blues now face AC Milan at the weekend for a place in the final of the Guinness International Champions Cup and after the match, their manager praised the displays of a trio of stand-out midfielders:
“To be fair, the teams we played against in Asia weren’t the highest quality, we finally played against a good team and it was important for me to see the reaction…What’s important is the evolution of the team and to see the way some of the boys played, especially Van Ginkel, who I put in from the start in a match of this dimension…Oscar has been with us for five days and Eden is working since the beginning. We’ve worked on movement, to have in our pockets to help us in difficult situations. The players are working hard, and it’s fantastic for me to see them try to do what we have been doing in training during matches.”
Mourinho also admitted he “won’t take risks” with Frank Lampard’s fitness in the tour. The veteran remains sidelined with an Achilles injury and with no game time under his belt over the summer so far, may struggle for fitness ahead of Chelsea’s season opener in just over a fortnight’s time; his potential absence is a boost for Hazard owners, with the Belgian next in line for spot-kick duties.
Bayern Munich 2 Man City 1
Having defeated AC Milan 5-3 only 24-hours earlier, there was little surprise to see substantial changes to the City starting XI, with only two players – Stevan Jovetic and Fernandinho – retaining their starting berths. Nevertheless, three of the regular back-four returned, with Pablo Zabaleta, Gael Clichy and Vincent Kompany joined by Dedryck Boyata in defence, while the likes of David Silva and Edin Dzeko dropped to the bench as Manuel Pellegrini gave Samir Nasri and Alvaro Negredo the chance to impress. The Chilean made just three changes in the second period, bringing on Yaya Toure and Jesus Navas at the break, while Negredo grabbed City’s only goal before finally making way for the in-form Dzeko with just under 15 minutes remaining.
West Brom 0 Genoa 1
The Baggies rolled up on the back of a three-game winning streak but a third match in just six days proved a step too far last night. Steve Clarke fielded a 4-3-3 formation and made five changes from the side that beat Greek outfit Atromitos earlier in the week, with a few of the clubs’ development squad and fringe players handed a starting berth. Jonas Olsson, Graham Dorrans and Nicolas Anelka were amongst the more familiar faces to return, with the latter once again handed a central role up top, as Markus Rosenberg was forced out wide in the front three. The Swede failed to continue his impressive scoring form after being subbed off at the break – he was one of five half-time switches by Clarke, while Anelka was hauled off on 66 minutes as the Baggies boss made a further three alterations in his attempt to claw back the deficit.
In Other News
Kevin Mirallas discussed his goalscoring form with Everton’s official website after notching once again in the midweek win over Juventus:
“I was very happy to score and it was a very good game. The team played very well and I am happy because it was a nice goal as well. It is important for me that I score in every game. I have scored three goals in four games so for me it’s been a good pre-season. More importantly I have had no injuries, we have three more games of pre-season and hopefully I can get two or three more goals. It’s my second season. I played a lot of games last season and I hope to stay injury free and score a lot of goals. Of course I want to make a lot of assists as well and play some nice games. I am pleased the fans like me because I play strong all the time, my style is a bit different and I like playing for Everton.”
The Belgian international has flourished under Roberto Martinez over the summer, with a move to the right of a front three clearly instrumental in his goal-getting exploits. Mirallas was limited to just 23 starts in his debut campaign on Merseyside due to a recurring hamstring problem but eventually overcame the issue to finish the season strongly. Nevertheless, with just six league goals to his name in 2012/13, he remains favourably priced across the Fantasy games but despite a cost of just 7.5 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), he’s yet to persuade many managers to get on board the bandwagon – a mere 5% ownership in third in the Toffees midfield alone, behind Marouane Fellaini (12%) and Steven Pienaar (6.5%).
