Benrahma’s form, Semedo’s absence and Leeds injuries: more FPL pre-season notes

We round up the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from the final batch of Saturday’s pre-season matches in our latest Scout Notes article.

You can read about the goals, assists, injury news and FPL takeaways from the other games on this day below:

• READ MORE: How Jack Grealish fared on his City debut and other Community Shield lessons
• READ MORE: Norwich’s disrupted pre-season bodes well for Liverpool in GW1
• READ MORE: Toney and Calvert-Lewin injury updates

Don’t forget to check out our comprehensive pre-season page for more information on the action taking place ahead of Gameweek 1.

WEST HAM UNITED 2-0 ATALANTA

• Goals: Michail Antonio (£7.5m), Pablo Fornals (£6.0m)
• Assists: Said Benrahma x2 (£6.0m)

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

With the mid-price forward pool in something of a pre-season plight at present, Michael Antonio (£7.5m) keeps ticking away with attacking returns.

Danny Ings‘ (£8.0m) arrival at Villa has seen Ollie Watkins’ (£7.5m) FPL ownership levels drop, while Kelechi Iheanacho (£7.5m) is now a serious rotation risk and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£7.5m) is carrying a knock ahead of the opening weekend.

So if pre-Gameweek 1 uncertainty is a turn-off for Fantasy managers, then West Ham United and Antonio ought to be a veritable FPL aphrodisiac.

Save for Alphonse Areola (£5.0m), the lack of notable new arrivals or departures in east London means that we pretty much know what we are getting with the Hammers from the get-go.

All 11 starters in the 2-0 win over Atalanta played under David Moyes in 2020/21, while the 4-2-3-1 and wing-back systems – both of which have been utilised this summer – are again nothing new to last season’s sixth-place overachievers.

Squad depth may become a real issue when European competition kicks in but for now, things look relatively settled.

The Hammers rounded off an unbeaten pre-season by defeating Champions League qualifiers Atalanta, with Serie A’s highest scorers of the last three campaigns unable to find a way past Lukasz Fabianski (£5.0m).

The return of Declan Rice (£5.0m), Tomas Soucek (£6.0m) and Vladimir Coufal (£5.0m) meant that the backline and the two holding midfielders ahead of them were at something near full strength, while the players leading the attack made hay.

Antonio lashed in his third goal of pre-season to give West Ham the lead, with Pablo Fornals (£6.0m) – playing at left wing-back here in a 3-4-3 – doubling the advantage late on.

“It’s one of those things where, during the season, I want to start taking more opportunities when they come to me. Obviously, I’ve taken the number 9 shirt now to show that I am the number 9, I am the person who’s meant to be scoring the goals, and hopefully, I can keep doing it.

“I don’t want to put any type of pressure on myself. I know that over the last few years I’ve been scoring goals, so if I just keep going out there and doing the same things that I’ve been doing, I’ll get a good tally at the end of the season. 

“Obviously, being the number 9, people could put a bit more pressure on that, saying that maybe ten goals isn’t enough, but all I’m going to do is go out there and do the best I can and score as many goals as I can.” – Michail Antonio

Both goals were set up by the 2.9%-owned Said Benrahma (£6.0m), the star of the show at the London Stadium and arguably West Ham’s stand-out performer of the summer.

The Algerian had a number of efforts of his own, including one thunderbolt that cracked the woodwork, but turned provider for Antonio’s effort and then saw his goalbound header unwittingly turned in by Fornals.

There’s a nagging doubt that Moyes still doesn’t 100% trust Benrahma after some lukewarm praise in the past but a solid pre-season and perhaps a growing sense of maturity hopefully bodes well for FPL in 2021/22.

“I prepared myself well for the pre-season. I’ve tried to properly prepare myself physically, I feel good. I think that’s what was missing for me last year. I’ve had a good pre-season and I hope to continue in this way.

“[For the first] I saw Mikey (Michail Antonio) break away so I followed and I tried to deliver him a good ball. I thought about shooting, but then I said to myself: ‘No, he’s in a better position’, so I made the pass. [For the second] I went for the ball, Pablo followed up and did a great job by finishing the chance! I felt that they were two great goals.” – Said Benrahma

Coufal, provider of nine assists in 2020/21, also caught the eye in a more advanced role, setting up Benrahma’s crossbar-bound effort and a couple of other near-misses in an hour-long run-out.

West Ham United XI: Fabianski (Areola 63), Coufal (Fredericks 63), Diop, Dawson, Cresswell, Rice (Noble 63), Soucek (Coventry 63), Fornals, Yarmolenko (Johnson 63), Benrahma, Antonio (Bowen 63)

LEEDS UNITED 2-2 VILLAREAL

• Goals: Mateusz Klich (£5.5m), Patrick Bamford (£8.0m)
• Assists: Liam Cooper (£4.5m)

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Another club in the ‘same old’ envelope is Leeds United, whose starting XI against Villarreal comprised entirely of players who were on the Whites’ books last season.

FPL managers know what we’re getting with Patrick Bamford (£8.0m), too: a lot of starts (there were 37 last season) and a lot of chances – many of them unconverted, of course.

Bamford had gone close on a couple of occasions before scoring against Villarreal, glancing a Jack Harrison (£6.0m) cross narrowly wide before grazing the woodwork with a rising effort.

It was the lively Leeds striker who then reacted quickest to stab home the loose ball when the fit-again Liam Cooper (£4.5m) struck the woodwork from a corner.

Cooper’s availability meant that Luke Ayling (£4.5m) could return to the right flank (here in a 3-3-1-3, rather than a 4-1-4-1), following a recent stint in the injury-hit centre-half position. That’s positive news for Ayling’s prospective owners, given the (slightly) enhanced potential for attacking returns.

As was the case last season, Marcelo Bielsa has problems at the back: Junior Firpo (£5.0m) and Diego Llorente (£4.5m) were absent with supposedly minor issues, while Jamie Shackleton (£4.5m) – a right-back in pre-season – missed out with a head injury.

Further forward, Raphinha (£6.5m) ended pre-season without an attacking return to his name but the meaningful business, of course, starts next weekend.

Leeds XI: Meslier, Ayling, Struijk, Cooper, Dallas, Koch (Phillips 45), Raphinha (Helder Costa 75), Rodrigo (Roberts 45), Klich, Harrison, Bamford.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Celta Vigo

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Nelson Semedo (£5.0m) missed Wolverhampton Wanderers’ final pre-season friendly on Saturday but should be available for Gameweek 1.

The Portugal international was not involved in the Wolves squad against Celta Vigo after coming into contact with someone who had contracted Covid-19 but the Express and Star report that his isolation period will end ahead of the clash with Leicester City.

Budget FPL defender Ki-Jana Hoever (£4.0m) was instead deployed at wing-back as Bruno Lage stuck with a 3-4-3 for the weekend’s game, with derailed pre-season bandwagon Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.5m) again playing second fiddle to the less attacking Marcal (£4.5m) on the opposite flank.

The wing-backs were well advanced as ever, something that bodes well for Semedo’s return – as does Francisco Trincao (£6.0m) again playing as an inverted right-winger, although the summer signing and Adama Traore (£6.0m) did switch sides at Molineux on Saturday.

It wasn’t just the formation that had a distinctly Nuno-esque feel but the performance, too, with Wolves sleepwalking into a half-time deficit (an Iago Aspas penalty ultimately proving crucial) but coming out of the blocks after the interval.

Raul Jimenez (£7.5m) twice fired wide following good work from Traore before striking the woodwork, as Wolves showed the kind of attacking thrust that Lage wants from his new troops.

“I think [he is ready to play in Gameweek 1]. I feel he is ready. He is confident. What he did [in pre-season] was very good. So I hope he can help us to be a stronger team.” – Bruno Lage on Raul Jimenez

Questions remain to be answered defensively, which perhaps prompted the move back to a more solid 3-4-3 from the gung-ho 4-4-2 in the first place, and Leander Dendoncker‘s (£5.0m) post-match words do have a cautionary feel for anyone considering Wolves investment:

“I don’t think we’re were we would like to be, which is normal when you have a new manager, with new rules and a new philosophy.

“With the Euros and the holidays, we haven’t had a lot of time with the whole of the squad and I’ve also not had much of a pre-season, but we’ve been working really hard every day in training and we’ve had a couple of games to get some rhythm again.” – Leander Dendoncker

Wolves XI: Sa (Ruddy 46), Hoever, Kilman, Coady, Saiss, Marcal (Ait-Nouri 77), Neves, Moutinho (Dendoncker 46), Trincao (Cutrone 77), Traore (Gibbs-White 70), Jimenez (Silva 77).

Southampton 1-3 Athletic Bilbao

• Goals: Theo Walcott (£6.0m)
• Assists: Tino Livramento (£4.0m)

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

A mixed bag of first-teamers and second-string players were involved as Southampton suffered their first defeat of pre-season.

The fact that back-up options Michael Obafemi (£4.5m) and Shane Long were paired up top does further suggest that FPL midfielder Nathan Tella (£5.0m) will get a run-out in attack alongside Che Adams (£7.0m) this weekend, although Ralph Hasenhuttl’s post-match words about finding a Danny Ings (£8.0m) replacement – and a seemingly imminent move for Adam Armstrong – will mean that the competition for places will soon hot up again.

“We lost a very important striker in Danny Ings and we have to replace him. I’m sure we have to do something [in the transfer market], as we definitely need something.” – Ralph Hasenhuttl

James Ward-Prowse (£6.5m) was still absent and remains a doubt for Gameweek 1, while Stuart Armstrong (£6.0m) again spent time in the less FPL-friendly double pivot, moving alongside Oriel Romeu (£4.5m) in the second half.

Armstrong was, at least, on set plays in Ward-Prowse’s absence.

A new addition to the £4.0m defender pool, Tino Livramento, came off the bench to tee up Theo Walcott (£6.0m) for Saints’ only goal on Saturday but Kyle Walker-Peters (£5.0m) remains in pole position to start at right-back this weekend.

“Tino in his first 45 minutes showed that he is a good lad who can help us. He immediately showed that he is a fantastic young player and it’s important that we have him.” – Ralph Hasenhuttl

Southampton XI: McCarthy, Valery, Bednarek, Salisu, Perraud (Livramento 46′), Armstrong, Romeu (Olufunwa 90), Diallo (Walcott 46), Djenepo, Obafemi (Tella 83′), Long.