FPL pre-season: Richarlison hat-trick, Ake injury update

Before the early hours of Thursday morning bring six matches based in America, a trio of Wedneday friendlies took place. Here are the headline Fantasy Premier League (FPL) pre-season updates from each one.

This time it’s the outings of Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield United.

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Manchester City 2-1 Bayern Munich

• Goals: McAtee, Laporte
• Assists: Alvarez, Foden

Match highlights

It’s two wins from two for champions Man City in Japan after a late Aymeric Laporte (£5.0m) goal defeated Bayern Munich.

All 10 outfielders were replaced, mostly at half-time – but there was an early departure for Nathan Ake (£5.0m) after he seemingly hurt his leg. However, Pep Guardiola confirmed it was a precautionary decision.

“He felt tired and Nathan (Ake), with his history it is better not to take a risk. The group is good, no injuries. I wouldn’t say we are far away but we are a way from our best conditions to be in top, top form. But that is normal.” – Pep Guardiola

Youngster James McAtee (£4.5m) scored nine times on loan at Sheffield United last season and, whilst FPL managers may be hoping he moves elsewhere to become the go-to cheap midfielder, he netted the opener here. Brilliant work from Rico Lewis (£4.5m) led to a Julian Alvarez (£6.5m) shot that was saved, allowing McAtee to tap in.

Bayern equalised near the end, as Ederson (£5.5m) spilt a weak shot into the path of Mathys Tel. The goalkeeper is still on bad terms with the FPL community, as he amassed just five save points over the whole of 2022/23. Furthermore, his expected goal (xG) prevention (-5.70) and save rate (59.7%) ranked amongst the worst.

There were narrative sub-plots as Kyle Walker (£5.0m) played against the side he’s been heavily linked with and Joao Cancelo (£6.0m) faced the team he was loaned to in 2022/23.

Tactically speaking, John Stones (£5.5m) again inverted into midfield (from centre-half), while Phil Foden (£7.5m) again was deployed as an advanced central midfielder rather than a winger. Foden carved out three key passes in his 45-minute showing (the most of any City player), one of which was an assist for Laporte.

Kevin De Bruyne (£10.5m) was an unused sub for the second game running; Pep Guardiola suggested on Sunday that his Champions League final injury won’t keep him out of Gameweek 1.

Man City XI: Ederson; Walker (Cancelo 46), Stones (Rodri 46), Dias (Laporte 46), Ake (Akanji 29); Lewis (Bobb 46), Kovacic (Phillips 46), Bernardo (Perrone 71); McAtee (Foden 46), Alvarez (Haaland 46), Grealish (Gomez 46)

Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 Lion City Sailors

• Goals: Kane (penalty), Richarlison x3, Lo Celso
• Assists: Sarr, Lo Celso, Solomon, Emerson Royal

Match highlights

Spurs went one step further and replaced all 11 starters at half-time, although the first-half line-up certainly looks like the preferred selection.

Apart from Pape Matar Sarr (£4.5m) coming in for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (£5.5m) in midfield, it was the same lot that was due to face Leicester City on Sunday before torrential rain forced a postponement.

That included Destiny Udogie (£4.5m), a budget FPL defender on many managers’ watchlists, at left-back.

“We’ve had a few punishing days for the boys, we purposely made them work hard in training because we missed the last game (against Leicester). I knew we wouldn’t be super sharp and it kind of looked that way, particularly in front of goal but, in general, I thought we played some decent football and our attitude was great right to the end.” – Ange Postecoglou

The highlight here was that Richarlison (£7.0m) – following a big price drop and midfield reclassification – bagged a hat-trick after coming on for Harry Kane (£12.5m) at half-time.

Perhaps winning the prestigious Tiger Cup will tempt Kane into staying but, should the talismanic forward depart for Bayern, Richarlison could offer some out-of-position potential for Spurs’ superb run of fixtures from Gameweek 3. It’s more likely that a replacement of some variety will arrive, though.

“I’ve said before that I really like Richy. He’s someone who has got all of the attributes I look for in a striker in that he’s got the strong work ethic, he’s always in the right areas and he’s presenting himself and making a presence of himself in the right areas for the way we play.” – Ange Postecoglou

Spurs actually went 1-0 down to the Singapore side but battered their hosts throughout. James Maddison (£7.5m) had eight first-half shots, Dejan Kulusevski (£7.0m) often threatened and Giovani Lo Celso (£5.0m) once again scored. The latter could become a bargain, with Postecoglou suggesting the forgotten Argentina international could stay.

Alternatively, Son Heung-min (£9.0m) was isolated out wide and had a quiet time.

Spurs first-half XI: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Davies, Udogie; Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison; Kulusevski, Kane, Son

Spurs second-half XI: Austin; Emerson Royal, Tanganga, Dier, Reguilon; Hojbjerg, Skipp, Lo Celso; Solomon, Richarlison, Perisic

Rotherham United 1-0 Sheffield United
Sheffield United 0-2 Girona

Match highlights v Rotherham
Match highlights v Girona

Finally, the Blades made it two goalless defeats in consecutive days.

With the likes of Iliman Ndiaye (£5.5m) and budget defender George Baldock (£4.0m) facing Rotherham United yesterday, other first-team names took part in the loss to Spanish side Girona.

Paul Heckingbottom’s side also failed to score versus Estoril last week, so he’ll be concerned about how this pre-season is panning out.

 “There were some good parts of the game, we split the squad so for some of our players it was a real test. But we stuck at it against a good, technical team.

“We do need to be better and work on how disciplined we are with the ball. It was a really good 74 minutes for the boys who will be involved in the first game of the season, as well as an eye opener for our younger boys.” – Paul Heckingbottom after the defeat to Girona

Oliver Norwood (£5.0m) was replaced after a clash of heads against Rotherham, while Heckingbottom said he has his “fingers crossed” that a knock picked up by John Fleck (£5.0m) isn’t serious.

Sheffield United XI v Rotherham United: Foderingham, Baldock (Sachdev 77), Basham (Barratt 77), Robinson (Smith 77), Larouci (Gomis 77), Neal, Norwood (Staniland 38), Brooks (Maguire 77), Osborn (Buyabu 77), Ndiaye (Hackford 77), Jebbison (Blacker 77).

Sheffield United XI v Girona: Davies; Ahmedhodzic (Sachdev 76), Egan (Barratt 76), Freckleton (Gomis 76); Seriki, Slimane (Maguire 63), Berge (Dickinson 76), Fleck (Smith 18), Lowe (Buyabu 76); Marsh (Macedo 76), Osula (Hackford 76)