Origi continues fight for Gameweek 1 starting berth

Fantasy Premier League managers learned a little more about Liverpool and Spurs in their Sunday pre-season matches.

It is admittedly still early days for both clubs but it is important for us to stay on top of the ever-evolving picture.

We’ve got all the latest talking points from Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal and Aston Villa.

Sevilla 2-1 Liverpool

Goals: Divock Origi (£5.5m)

Assists: None

Jurgen Klopp continued to use two line-ups for each half as Liverpool lost to Sevilla on Sunday.

The Reds’ manager is still making plenty of changes despite this meeting marking the fourth of pre-season.

It was the first half line-up that looked closer to the usual suspects, with a few exceptions.

Andrew Robertson (£7.0m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m) and Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m) played the first 45 minutes but were joined by Nathaniel Phillips at centre-back and Andy Lonergan in goal.

Even though Klopp is not past making extensive changes in these matches yet, we have uncovered a potential favourite in the race to join van Dijk at centre-back in Gameweek 1.

Joe Gomez‘s (£5.5m) 195 minutes across the four matches is the joint-second highest behind only Simon Mignolet (£4.5m).

Crucially, it is more than any recognised centre-back at this stage, with Joel Matip (£5.5m) on 150 and Dejan Lovren (£5.5m) on 120.

Divock Origi (£5.5m) continues to stake his claim for a place in the Liverpool starting line-up both for the Community Shield and Gameweek 1 in the absence of Sadio Mané (£11.5m).

He started and scored against Sevilla to take his pre-season minute count to 195 in four matches, more than any senior forward player.

First-half Liverpool XI (4-3-3): Lonergan; Robertson, van Dijk, Phillips, Alexander-Arnold; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wijnaldum, Henderson; Woodburn, Origi, Wilson.

Second-half Liverpool XI: Mignolet; A Lewis, Lovren, Hoever, Gomez, Larouci (Duncan 80′); Fabinho, Milner, C Jones; Kent, Brewster.

Juventus 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur

Goals: Erik Lamela (£6.0m), Lucas Moura (£7.5m), Harry Kane (£11.0m)

Assists: Troy Parrott, Tanguy Ndombele (£6.0m), Moura

There is only so much we can read into Spurs’ 3-2 win over Juventus as it was their first match of pre-season.

Mauricio Pochettino even admitted after the game that he would have rather faced a lower league side than a European giant at this stage of the summer.

“I think they’re very good games, very competitive. To be honest we are very sure in our preparation. I am not too much of a fan of competing this early in pre-season in this type of game because in the end, you are competing with big, big clubs. Always that is a period that we used to play friendlies with League Two sides or games in our training ground in the first 15-20 days and then move on to play these games, but for different circumstances and because to give times to our players to rest after a tough season we start some players with only one week to travel and play in a different environment, weather and adapt.” – Mauricio Pochettino

Fantasy managers got a first look at new signing Tanguy Ndombele (£6.0m) against Juventus and he certainly looked good.

The central midfielder was powerful in the way he drove forward with the ball and incisive in his passing too, picking out Lucas Moura (£7.5m) for Spurs’ second goal.

Ndombele also showed that he could have plenty to offer in the final third too as he went on a marauding run in the second half before shooting just inches wide of the post.

“All is new for (Ndombele), but I think with the first touch of the ball he started to show the quality from him. It was amazing and you can see when he runs something can happen. He has the capacity to add to the team different things and I hope during the season he can help the team achieve all that they want.” – Mauricio Pochettino

Harry Kane (£11.0m) also drew some attention with his spectacular goal from the half-way line, although he only played the second half, coming on for youngster Troy Parrott at the break.

Meanwhile, Hugo Lloris (£5.5m) was absent due to an illness, which saw Paulo Gazzaniga (£4.5m) start in goal.

Spurs XI (4-3-1-2): Gazzaniga; Georgiou (White 71′), Tanganga (Vertonghen 46), Alderweireld (Foyth 46′), Walker-Peters (Marsh 71′); Skipp (Bowden 90+2′), Winks (Roles 63′), Alli (Sissoko 46′); Lamela (Ndombele 63′); Son (Moura 46′), Parrott (Kane 46′).

Fiorentina 0-3 Arsenal

Goals: Eddie Nketiah x2 (£4.5m), Joe Willock

Assists: Sead Kolasinac (£5.5m), Alexandre Lacazette (£9.5m)

Unai Emery continues to experiment with his defence as Arsenal beat Fiorentina 3-0.

He started with a 3-4-3 formation that featured Calum Chambers, Shkodran Mustafi (£5.5m) and Nacho Monreal (£5.0m), while Sead Kolasinac (£5.5m) and Carl Jenkinson (£4.5m) were used as wing-backs.

With Hector Bellerin (£5.5m) still out injured, Jenkinson has been enjoying plenty of game-time during the pre-season.

Only Robbie Burton (195) and Mustafi (189) have recorded more minutes during the summer than the former West Ham loanee’s 170.

In the second half, Emery moved back to a four-man defence with Monreal shifting to the left, Jenkinson retaining his place on the right and Chambers and Mustafi at centre-back until their substitutions.

It was a more youthful attack chosen against Fiorentina compared to the side that beat Bayern Munich the previous week.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£11.0m) was not involved, while Alexandre Lacazette (£9.5m) featured only in the second half, but still came away with two assists.

While Eddie Nketiah (£4.5m) is unlikely to trouble the first-team too much this season, his development continues as he hopes to perhaps step into the shoes of an injured colleague.

The youngster currently has the fourth-highest pre-season minutes total according to our spreadsheet – and has also been involved in more goals than any of his colleagues two (two scored, one assisted).

Arsenal (3-4-3): Martinez (46′ Leno); Chambers (Mkhitaryan 63′), Mustafi (Medley 80′), Monreal (Martinelli 80′); Kolasinac (Lacazette 46′), Olayinka (Sokratis 63′), Burton (Thompson 80′), Jenkinson (Xhaka 80′); Nelson (Özil 79′), Nketiah (Maitland-Niles 80′), Saka (Willock 63′).

Shrewsbury Town 0-1 Aston Villa

Goals: Scott Hogan

Assists: Wesley (£6.0m)

Aston Villa’s 1-0 win over Shrewsbury Town offered some minor Fantasy lessons, but they are still just two games into their pre-season schedule.

Jed Steer (£4.5m), last season’s play-off hero, was the only player to feature in both halves as Dean Smith went with two XIs for each period.

He has been tipped to be the number one in 2019/20 but looked shakey against Shrewsbury. He made several errors at the New Meadow and never looked comfortable.

The first-choice back-four still looks unclear, with eight defenders all having played a total of 90 minutes across the two friendlies so far.

While Wesley (£6.0m) is likely to be the first-choice centre-forward this season, we should keep an eye on Scott Hogan and Keinan Davis (£4.5m).

Hogan’s future has been up in the air for some time after going out on loan last season but he has now been involved in both pre-season games, scoring against Shrewsbury.

Davis also started up-front at the New Meadow, who is down as a £4.5m midfielder on FPL, so he warrants monitoring too, although Jonathan Kodjia (£5.5m) may be back soon following his African Cup of Nations campaign with the Ivory Coast.

First-half Aston Villa XI (4-2-3-1): Steer; N Taylor, Mings, Konsa, Guilbert; Grealish, Bjarnason; Green, McGinn, Jota; Davis.

Second-half Aston Villa XI (4-2-3-1): Steer; Targett, Hause, Chester, Bree; O’Hare, Lansbury, Hourihane, Hepburn-Murphy; Hogan, Wesley.