An injury to Bryan Mbeumo (£6.5m) was one of the main Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points on Saturday.
There were 14 Premier League teams contesting their final pre-season friendlies yesterday – and our Scout Notes articles will dissect each of them.
Here, we focus on the matches involving Brentford, Crystal Palace and Fulham.
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A reminder that you can see the pre-season minutes, goals and assists players from all four clubs via our tracker.
BRENTFORD 0-0 LILLE
BRENTFORD 5-1 LILLE
- Goals: Schade x2, Norgaard, Olakigbe x2 (one pen)
- Assists: Collins, Bech, Yarmoliuk, Schade
Watch match highlights from the 0-0 draw here
MBEUMO INJURY LATEST
Thomas Frank expects Bryan Mbeumo (£6.5m) to be fit for Gameweek 1 despite the well-owned FPL midfielder limping out of Saturday’s goalless draw with Lille.
Mbeumo lasted only half an hour of the contest, with Frank Onyeka (£5.0m) soon following him out of the match.
Frank explained after full-time that both players had merely suffered knocks:
“We expect both of them to be available on Sunday. Of course, we need to assess them the next couple of days.
“I think it was a knock or a dead leg for Bryan, so that’s why we also subbed him off earlier. We’re not taking any risks. Same with Frank, he felt a bit but we couldn’t see anything. That should be fine.” – Thomas Frank
The Brentford boss split his squad across two fixtures against Lille, with the side sent out for the goalless draw very much looking like a potential Gameweek 1 line-up. Having used a 4-3-3, it was also a clue that Frank may buck the trend of playing a 3-5-2 against a ‘big six’ side. The Bees also lined up in a back four at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in Gameweek 37 of last season.
Missing from the first-team XI was Rico Henry (£4.5m), as well as Josh Dasilva (£5.0m), but their omissions were – like the substitutions of Mbeumo and Onyeka – precautionary in nature.
FLEKKEN CLEAN SHEET
Mark Flekken (£4.5m) was between the posts and kept his first clean sheet of pre-season, delivering an improved display. His distribution was again excellent but there are still lingering question marks over his handling, with some of the myriad saves he racked up not looking entirely convincing.
“Pleased with Mark today. Like any new player, they need to settle in and get to know the team, the club, the league.
“Step by step, he’s been growing. I think today was his best performance in pre-season.” – Thomas Frank on Mark Flekken
This was a good defensive test of the Bees, with Lille dominating proceedings for a big chunk of the game.
“I’m happy with the clean sheet. Of course, we like to score goals, and we’d prefer to win. But we’ve just conceded eight goals in three games, so we needed to get back to that little bit more solidness.
“Lille are a very good team. I like the way they played, I like the way they pressed. In some ways they’re very similar [to us] in terms of their pressing and how they try to build up. It was a very good test for us, no doubt about that. I’m pleased with that test.
“We didn’t produce as many chances during the first half, the second half was better. But every single time we managed to get the structure right and play in behind, which shows that we are a big threat.” – Thomas Frank
LEWIS-POTTER IMPRESSES
Offensively, with Mbeumo off injured and Yoane Wissa (£6.0m) doing a lot of the donkey work, it was actually the third musketeer, Keane Lewis-Potter (£5.0m), who provided the biggest goal threat.
Cutting in off the left flank, the budget FPL midfielder had a couple of clear openings and his touch was excellent. Having impressed in pre-season, he is now the favourite to join Wissa and Mbeumo up top against Spurs – providing Frank doesn’t sweep the rug from our feet and go back to a 3-5-2.
Kevin Schade (£5.5m), a positional rival of both Wissa and Lewis-Potter, laid down his own marker with a brace in the second-string’s 5-1 thumping of their Lille counterparts.
Christian Norgaard (£5.5m) made his return from injury with an hour-long showing in this training-ground game. He could come into the Gameweek 1 picture, then, which would be a boost to Brentford’s clean-sheet prospects going forward.
Brentford XI for the 0-0 draw: Flekken; Roerslev, Pinnock, Mee (Kim 65), Hickey (Adedokun 75); Janelt, Onyeka (Yogane 31), Jensen; Mbeumo (Brierley 29), Lewis-Potter, Wissa.
Brentford XI for the 5-1 win: Strakosha (Balcombe 55); Ajer, Collins, Zanka, Bech; Norgaard (Brierley 60), Yarmoliuk, Damsgaard; Baptiste, Olakigbe, Schade.
CRYSTAL PALACE 2-0 LYON
- Goals: Schlupp, Edouard
- Assists: Eze, Andersen
EZE DELIVERS AGAIN
Eberechi Eze (£6.5m) took his pre-season assist count to five as Palace defeated Lyon at Selhurst Park.
Eze’s free-kick was nodded in by Jeffrey Schlupp (£5.0m) for the Eagles’ early opener, while he was also the source of Palace’s second strike on the hour.
There was no assist this time, however: the mid-price FPL midfielder’s corner was met by a saved header from Joachim Andersen (£4.5m), the rebound bundled in by Odsonne Edouard (£5.5m).
It wasn’t actually Eze’s best game outside of set plays. It’s easy to forget that his form hasn’t been consistent during his three-year stay in south London, particularly at the start of 2022/23.
The ongoing lack of a convincing striker up top means that many of the chances he creates will also go begging.
But with guaranteed minutes, set plays in his locker, penalty-taking duties potentially in the bag, a manager that seems to bring the best out of him, and two defensive-minded midfielders doing the dirty work in midfield, he’s still among the most attractive mid-price FPL midfield options.
SOLID AT THE BACK
Cheick Doucoure (£5.0m) is one of those midfield spoilers and he’s a Gameweek 1 concern after he limped out of the Lyon game.
It’s a possible ray of hope for budget FPL midfielder Naouirou Ahamada (£4.5m), whose prominent role in pre-season has given way to successive benchings. Schlupp has taken Ahamada’s place on the wing in the two most recent warm-up games but central midfield is Ahamada’s natural position.
Tyrick Mitchell (£4.5m) missed out entirely, although Palace are said to be “hopeful” that he could make the start of 2023/24.
The Eagles boasted some strong underlying defensive numbers last season. While the early fixtures are a mixed bag, it’s a bit of a mystery why Sam Johnstone (£4.5m) is only 1.3% owned at present. Here he was again excellent, consolidating his place between the sticks as Vicente Guaita (£4.5m) was again nowhere to be seen. With a defence in front of him that is strong enough to offer the odd clean sheet but not mean enough to prevent him from racking up the saves, he’s meeting the requirements of what we want from a Fantasy goalkeeper.
Crystal Palace XI: Johnstone; Ward (Rïedewald 45), Andersen, Guéhi, Clyne, Lerma, Doucouré (Ahamada 67), Eze, Schlupp (Rak-Sakyi 80), Edouard (Mateta 76), Ayew
FULHAM 2-1 HOFFENHEIM
- Goals: Jimenez, Bassey
- Assists: Robinson, Pereira
MITROVIC SIGHTED
There was a first pre-season sighting of Aleksandar Mitrovic (£7.5m) as Fulham rounded off their warm-up programme with a win.
Mitrovic appeared as a slightly embarrassed-looking substitute midway through the second half of the victory over Hoffenheim, with Andreas Pereira (£5.5m) introduced at the same time.
Pereira, working his way back from injury, has now featured twice off the bench this summer.
Whether this was Mitrovic’s final Fulham game or not remains to be seen.
Al Hilal are keen on the Serbian striker but with the Cottagers’ valuation not being met, Marco Silva expects his star forward to be available for selection.
“Mitrovic is training with the team and is ready to play. If this wasn’t the case he wouldn’t be on the bench and he wouldn’t be playing in the second half.
“I think for me and for all the managers, it’s impossible for me to guarantee that any player is going to stay.
“We cannot control the market. Of course, some of our players have received offers which is a consequence of our great season last year and we have to be ready for that.” – Marco Silva
JIMENEZ ON TARGET
Fulham have a contingency plan if Mitrovic does leave, with Carlos Vinicius (£5.0m) and Raul Jimenez (£5.5m) waiting in the wings.
Jimenez was given the nod to start against Hoffenheim, getting a couple of sighters from set plays before he opened his account with a close-range finish from Antonee Robinson’s (£4.5m) cross.
Another fresh recruit, centre-half Calvin Bassey (£4.5m), thumped home a header from Pereira’s second-half corner.
We know there’s a dormant Fantasy gem in Jimenez from his first two years in the Premier League but he simply hasn’t been at the same level in the last three seasons, that sickening injury against Arsenal being a big reason why.
Perhaps a change of scenery can help; Silva worked wonders in getting the best of another veteran in Willian (£5.5m) last season when most of us were convinced that the Brazilian winger’s best days were long gone.
“Raúl knows everything about the Premier League but [he and Bassey] both need time to adapt and understand what we expect from them.
“Raúl is going to give us different things and get into different positions. We need to give him the conditions to be at his best from a physical point of view and he is going to help us like he showed this afternoon. Even against Chelsea last week, in the 45 minutes he did the role well.” – Marco Silva
£4.5m MIDFIELDER LUKIC
Sasa Lukic (£4.5m) looks like he will line up for Fulham in Gameweek 1 – but how long the bargain-bin FPL midfielder will be in the starting XI for is another question.
Joao Palhinha‘s (£5.0m) serious-looking pre-season injury has given Lukic the chance to impress but Silva said after full-time on Saturday that Palhinha was already back on the training ground.
“It’s difficult to be sure on the timeframe. He has already begun his ball work on the training pitch and it’s good to see him back. With more contact in the training sessions, we’ll continue to be assessing day by day to see how he reacts.” – Marco Silva on Joao Palhinha
Palhinha’s influence on this Fulham side was touched on in our 2023/24 preview.
Fulham XI: Leno; Tete, Bassey (Ream 85), Diop, Robinson; Reed (Harris 88), Lukić, De Cordova-Reid (Stansfield 88); Wilson, Raúl (Mitrovic 68), Willian (Andreas 68)
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