The main Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from Aston Villa, Everton, West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ final pre-season friendlies are discussed below.
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VALENCIA 1-2 ASTON VILLA
ASTON VILLA 3-0 LAZIO
- Goals: Watkins, Buendia
- Assists: Coutinho
- Goals: Watkins, McGinn
- Assists: Tielemans, Cash, Revan
Watch match highlights here and here
Aston Villa are in good shape after rounding off their pre-season preparations with a 2-1 victory at the Mestalla on Saturday. This followed Thursday’s convincing 3-0 win over UEFA Champions League qualifiers Lazio.
In Spain, Ollie Watkins (£8.0m) netted his fourth pre-season goal in six friendlies, capitalising on a defensive mix-up to finish well, before substitutes Emiliano Buendia (£6.0m) and Philippe Coutinho (£6.0m) combined after the break. The goal they did concede arrived from a corner, which Callum Chambers (£4.0m) glanced into his own net.
Pau Torres (£4.5m) started at left-back, tucking in to form a back three in possession, but he struggled in an unfamiliar role during the first 45 minutes. It forced Unai Emery into a half-time change, with Lucas Digne (£4.5m) coming on as the Spaniard opted to revert to a flat back four.
Leon Bailey (£5.5m) was also hauled off and it’s those two positions that look up for grabs at St James’ Park next week. The rest of the XI feels pretty settled, despite Moussa Diaby (£6.5m) failing to see much of the ball here.
“We did pre-season thinking that we have to work on different things tactically, and we did it. We were practicing some tactical decisions and some we are taking really well but others we have to continue learning, improving and taking more information. Overall, I’m very happy. We have to be ready and have everyone very excited with our supporters for the first match in Newcastle. It’s our objective now to start our season in the best way possible.” – Unai Emery
Elsewhere, Cameron Archer (£4.5m) replaced Watkins on 78 minutes and could get some playing time off the bench in the early weeks of 2023/24, with Jhon Duran (£5.0m) failing to feature at all in pre-season through injury.
Two days earlier against Lazio, Watkins saw his early penalty saved but made amends shortly after, firing home to give Villa the lead. John McGinn (£5.5m) was also on the scoresheet before Mario Gila turned the ball into his own net from a Seb Revan cross.
It’s been a strong pre-season for Villa, who came through all six games unbeaten, and Watkins looks confident and in form heading into Gameweek 1.
Meanwhile, Villa will find out their UEFA Conference League play-off opponents on Monday, and if they progress to the group stage, will have a more demanding schedule to contend with, something Unai Emery touched on after the win in Spain. The two-legged play-offs will take place between Gameweeks 2/3 and 3/4.
“We are going to play this year, hopefully, a lot of matches. The Conference League is an objective as well but the Premier League is the first competition we are going to face. We have to be fit and make everyone aware that hopefully it’s going to be a long season. We are going to play a lot of matches, playing on Thursday and then on Sunday, with FA Cup and Carabao Cup.” – Unai Emery
Aston Villa v Valencia XI: Martinez, Cash (Chambers 78), Konsa, Mings, Torres (Digne 45), Kamara (Tielemans 64), Luiz, McGinn (Philogene 64), Bailey (Buendia 45), Diaby (Coutinho 64), Watkins (Archer 78)
Aston Villa v Lazio XI: Olsen, Chambers, Konsa (Mings 45), Torres (Cash 45), Digne (Revan 70), Kamara (Luiz 45), Tielemans (Kellyman 70), Bailey (Philogene 45), Buendia (Coutinho 45), Diaby (McGinn 45), Watkins (Archer 45)
EVERTON 1-0 SPORTING
- Goals: Calvert-Lewin (pen)
- Assists: Doucoure
Watch match highlights here
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m) slotted home a first-half penalty to secure a 1-0 win for Everton at Goodison Park.
The 26-year-old has stepped up his return from injury this past week, with 45 minutes against Monza and another 45 here.
“I felt good, I felt sharp. It’s another step in the right direction and, obviously, to get on the scoresheet as well – but for me getting 45 minutes behind closed doors was good and to be slowly building it up to the start of the season to be ready for Fulham [is my aim]. I feel more confident now.” – Dominic Calvert-Lewin
However, while Sean Dyche was clearly pleased with his frontman’s impact, he did sound more cautious in his post-match interview.
“Dom’s not quite ready yet. We need to be careful with him, but he has got two 45 minutes in this week which is pleasing. The first thing is about trying to get him ready. I am not worried about the rest [in terms of scoring goals]. He has had a tough period. We are trying to get him ready and truly fit. He is on a good pathway for that. This is another step in the right direction.” – Sean Dyche on Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Elsewhere on the injury front, James Tarkowski (£4.5m) limped off during the second half. He appeared to have an issue with his knee but Dyche was hopeful it is not serious, saying “He’s just got a knock, we think” and that the club was “being ultra-careful.”
Dwight McNeil (£5.5m) will miss the start of the new season, however, while Arnaut Danjuma (£5.5m) is also facing a rate to be fit for Gameweek 1. Both players didn’t feature at all v Sporting.
With Demarai Gray (£5.5m) set to leave the club, Dyche’s options out wide are limited, with James Garner (£5.0m) and Alex Iwobi (£5.5m) performing the roles on Saturday.
“It’s not going to be days. It’s going to be weeks rather than days. We’re waiting on a weekly update if you like. So, yeah, we’ll see how long it takes. He’s just hurt his ankle ligaments.” – Sean Dyche on Dwight McNeil
“I doubt it. He will be fit but I doubt he will be fit, fit if that makes sense as in getting out there when the whistle blows.” – Sean Dyche when asked if he expected Danjuma to be fit for Fulham
Everton XI: Pickford, Patterson, Tarkowski (Keane 88), Godfrey (Branthwaite 45), Young (Mykolenko 65), Garner, Onana, Gana (Dobbin 74), Doucoure (Gomes 79), Iwobi, Calvert-Lewin (Maupay 45)
LEVERKUSEN 4-0 WEST HAM
West Ham United were beaten 4-0 in their final pre-season friendly by Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen.
It was a worrying first-half display from David Moyes’ men, who conceded three goals in the first 45 minutes. That prompted four substitutions and a change in system at the break, as they switched to a back-three shape.
Lukasz Fabianski (£4.5m) and youngster Divin Mubama (£4.5m) were among those withdrawn, with Alphonse Areola (£4.0m) and Michail Antonio (£6.0m) their replacements. The latter appeared in the matchday squad for the first time since representing Jamaica internationally in the summer.
Discussing Antonio and others return, Billy McKinlay said:
“They’ve had a week’s training and didn’t miss too much [since their tournaments ended]. Paqueta got another 45 minutes too – we took him off at half-time as he took a little knock and it’s not the time to take chances with anybody. We think he’ll be fine and ready to train on Monday. It’s good to get them back and we’ve now got a good week to get ourselves prepared for Bournemouth. Plenty to do, but we’ll be ready.” – Billy McKinlay
Despite being hooked at half-time, Mubama has impressed in pre-season, scoring against Perth Glory, Tottenham Hotspur and Dagenham & Redbridge.
The Hammers are yet to make a signing this summer and like Aston Villa’s Archer, he could get minutes off the bench in the early weeks of 2023/24.
Jarrod Bowen (£7.0m) and Said Benrahma (£6.0m) started in the wide forward positions against Leverkusen, with the latter and Tomas Soucek (£5.0m) hitting the woodwork.
“We didn’t play well enough in all aspects of the game. We started slowly, gave away a poor goal initially and didn’t really recover from that. It was a tough day against a top German team. The boys were up at 5 o’clock and up travelling straight to the game pretty much. There’s nothing we could do about it – circumstances out of our control. It maybe played a part in the start of the game, which we didn’t recover from, but we’ve got plenty of other things to work on as well.” – Billy McKinlay
West Ham United XI: Fabianski (Areola 45), Kehrer, Zouma (Coufal 45), Ogbonna, Emerson (Johnson 70), Soucek, Downes (Coventry 75), Paqueta (Aguerd 45), Benrahma (Fornals 70), Bowen (Cornet 70), Mubama (Antonio 45)
WOLVES 3-1 STADE RENNAIS
- Goals: Ait Nouri, Gomes, Hwang
- Assists: Sarabia, Nunes x2
Wolves completed their pre-season preparations with an impressive 3-1 win over Ligue 1 side Stade Rennais.
Julen Lopetegui made eight changes from the team which drew 0-0 with Luton Town on Wednesday, with Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.5m), Max Kilman (£4.5m) and Matheus Nunes (£5.0m) the three to retain their starting spots.
The former was on the scoresheet here, as well as Joao Gomes (£5.0m) and Hwang Hee-Chan (£5.5m).
Lining up in a 4-2-3-1 shape, Matheus Cunha (£5.5m) was lively up front and looks like the favourite to start next week, while Pablo Sarabia (£5.0m) was on set-pieces and took the corner which led to Ait-Nouri’s volleyed opener. He played centrally in behind Cunha, sometimes pushing up to form a 4-4-2, and could pick up a bit of interest as a budget enabler when Wolves’ fixtures improve.
Elsewhere, Sasa Kalajdzic (£5.0m) stepped up his recovery from the ACL injury that ruined his 2022/23 season, appearing as a second-half substitute.
Wolverhampton Wanderers XI: Sa (King 78), Semedo (Doherty 60), Dawson, Kilman (Toti 61), Ait-Nouri (Bueno 45), Lemina (Traore 73), Hodge (Gomes 45), Sarabia (Silva 45), Nunes (Jonny 73), Neto (Hwang 45), Cunha (Kalajdzic 61)
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