There was a raft of pre-season friendly action at the weekend, with over half of the 20 Premier League teams on show.
We’ll have the goal, assist and line-up information from all these games plus brief Fantasy Premier League (FPL) flavoured notes on each clash – including some key fitness updates.
We start with Brighton and Hove Albion, Burnley and Leeds United with a round-up of the other matches to follow later.
Don’t forget to check out our comprehensive pre-season page for more information on the warm-up matches taking place ahead of Gameweek 1.
LEEDS UNITED 2-3 REAL BETIS
- Goals: Patrick Bamford (£8.0m), Mateusz Klich (£5.5m)
- Assists: Junior Firpo (£5.0m)
The problems could be mounting for Leeds United at centre-half, two weeks before they take on Manchester United in Gameweek 1.
The Whites saw Diego Llorente (£4.5m) and Pascal Struijk (£4.5m) depart the field in Saturday’s warm-up game against Real Betis, while Liam Cooper (£4.5m) hasn’t been seen at all in pre-season.
Even allowing for Cooper’s involvement with Scotland at EURO 2020 and the subsequent post-tournament break, he would have been expected to have made an appearance by now.
It remains to be seen whether Llorente or Struijk’s withdrawals were anything other than precautionary; the former didn’t look in too much distress upon his 24th-minute substitution but struggled with fitness issues last season, while Struijk limped off after suffering a nasty-looking kick in the dying stages.
With Marcelo Bielsa not facing the media over the summer, we’ll have to look to the remaining pre-season friendlies against Ajax and Villarreal for clues or await the Argentinean’s first pre-match press conference ahead of Gameweek 1.
There’ll be likely ramifications for Luke Ayling (£4.5m) and his ability to get forward if those aforementioned stoppers are sidelined: the 10%-owned budget defender was moved to centre-half upon Llorente’s substitution on Saturday, with Jamie Shackleton (£4.5m) coming on at right-back.
It’s early days for Junior Firpo (£5.0m) but the summer signing looks more at home going forward than he does heading in the opposite direction and there were signs of a flourishing relationship with Jack Harrison (£6.0m) down the Leeds left, with Firpo looking to overlap the former Manchester City man where possible.
It was Firpo, indeed, who provided the assist for Patrick Bamford‘s (£8.0m) headed opener.
This 45-minute outing was an-otherwise-quiet Bamford’s first appearance of pre-season and Leeds’ starting XI was pretty much at full strength save for Kalvin Phillips (£5.0m), with Robin Koch (£4.5m) – another possible deputy at centre-half if the worst happens – sitting in front of the back four.
Stuart Dallas (£5.5m) started in midfield before moving to left-back in the second half, with Firpo’s half-time replacement – Mateusz Klich (£5.5m) – scoring after Betis had established a 3-1 lead.
Shackleton said of the defeat:
It was tough, particularly a stage in the second half they kept the ball and we struggled to win the ball back high up the pitch, which we always try to do.
They played out well, which gave us a bit of a run around at times but we kept going and as the game went on I thought we dealt with that better. They’re a good side, good on the ball and brave playing out, receiving it in dangerous areas and being confident. They managed to play out well at times and we struggled with the press.
We play as if it’s a league game, no holding back. We worked hard, ran around and we gave it our all.
Leeds United XI: Meslier, Ayling, Llorente (Shackleton 24), Struijk (Greenwood 88), Firpo (Klich 45), Koch, Raphinha, Dallas, Rodrigo, Harrison (Costa 66), Bamford (Roberts 45).
TRANMERE ROVERS 1-2 BURNLEY
- Goals: Ashley Barnes (£5.5m), Dwight McNeil (£6.0m)
- Assists: McNeil
As was the case with Leeds above, Burnley also looked to be something nearing full strength when they faced Tranmere on Saturday.
Chris Wood (£7.0m) and Nick Pope (£5.5m) were the most notable absentees, with the former now set to rejoin his club colleagues after New Zealand were knocked out of the Olympic Games football tournament.
Sean Dyche on Saturday:
Woody is coming back – unfortunately for Woody. It’s shame for him and for them but good for us, in a way.
He comes back and will be able to re-acclimatise and get a bit of recovery before he joins in with us.
I am pretty pleased and the main thing is – so far – we are injury-free. Everyone is fit and well at the moment and long may that continue, of course.
Lancashire Live reports that Wood will be handed three weeks off after his exertions for the Kiwis, which would rule him out of Gameweek 1 and likely render him a doubt for Gameweek 2.
Pope is back training, meanwhile, but Dyche’s refusal to put a timescale on a playing return does suggest that Wayne Hennessey (£4.5m) may be between the posts on the opening weekend:
We will wait and see. He is going along nicely at the moment. I very rarely put timescales on things but he is going along well at the moment.
As for the on-pitch performances, the excellent pre-season displays of Dwight McNeil (£6.0m) were finally rewarded with attacking returns: the winger assisted Ashley Barnes‘s (£5.5m) headed opener with a lofted pass and then struck the winner from distance.
On £4.5m midfielder-watch, Josh Brownhill (£4.5m) was deployed in the middle of the park and was also involved at the business end of the pitch, firing narrowly wide and setting up chances for Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£5.5m) and Matthew Lowton (£4.5m).
Burnley XI: Hennessey, Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Gudmundsson (Cork 60), Westwood, Brownhill, McNeil, Barnes (Richardson 82), Rodriguez (Vydra 60).
LUTON TOWN 1-3 BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
- Goals: Aaron Connolly (£5.5m), Enock Mwepu (£6.0m), Percy Tau
- Assists: Adam Lallana (£5.5m), Solly March (£5.5m), Florin Andone
Graham Potter said on Saturday that Robert Sanchez‘s (£4.5m) withdrawal in the win over Luton Town was merely “precautionary” but gave mixed injury updates on a number of other key players.
With Ben White (£4.5m) now departed for Arsenal and Tariq Lamptey (£4.5m) set to miss the start of 2021/22, Albion can ill afford any more injuries.
The sight of Dan Burn (£4.5m) limping out of the weekend victory at Kenilworth Road wasn’t a welcome one, then, but Potter did suggest that Lewis Dunk (£5.0m) and Adam Webster (£4.5m) would at least be back for the final pre-season friendly against Getafe:
Rob [Sanchez] was more precautionary and I think Dan’s foot got stuck in the turf in the second half so [we will] err on the side of caution at this stage.
I spoke to him [Burn] briefly and he said he felt okay but we will see how he is in the next 24-48 hours.
Lewis [Dunk] and Adam [Webster] should be back for Getafe. Adam is back in training and Lewis is not.
There were also updates on Leandro Trossard (£6.5m) and Danny Welbeck (£6.0m) from the Seagulls’ boss:
Leo [Trossard] is late back from internationals, he has had to do some isolation.
Danny [Welbeck] felt his hamstring so he was not available. We are just getting to the bottom of the extent of it. Obviously disappointing for us and for him. It looks like he is going to miss the start [of the season] at this stage but it is what it is.
Such uncertainty isn’t ideal heading into the new campaign, particularly when many of us are considering Brighton assets for their excellent opening fixture run.
The players that made it onto the pitch at least mostly performed well at Luton, with the hosts’ only goal a self-inflicted one after a horrendous Burn pass.
Potter set his side up in a 4-4-2 diamond at the weekend, with Joel Veltman (£4.5m) and Solly March (£5.5m) at full-back and Adam Lallana (£5.5m) operating behind the front two.
It was Lallana who provided the assist for Aaron Connolly‘s (£5.5m) opener, with promising summer signing Enock Mwepu (£6.0m) – he of the “assists” pledge – stroking home a second from a March cross.
Substitute Percy Tau rounded off the scoring in the second half.
Brighton and Hove Albion XI: Sanchez (Steele 46), Veltman (Karbownik 46), Duffy (Tsoungui 80), Burn (Ostigard 58), March (Zeqiri 64), Bissouma (Gross 64), Mwepu (Leonard 68), Moder (Tau 46), Lallana (Richards 64), Connolly (Alzate 46), Maupay (Andone 46).
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