All 20 Premier League clubs will be contesting pre-season friendlies for the final time from Thursday to Sunday – but a handful have squeezed in penultimate midweek warm-up matches.
Fulham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Southampton have all been in action over the last few days.
We’ll take a look at the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from those kickabouts here.
ARSENAL 4-1 BAYER LEVERKUSEN
- Goals: Zinchenko, Trossard, Jesus, Havertz
- Assists: Havertz x2
There was much to unpack from the Emirates.
Firstly, no-shows from Jurrien Timber (£5.5m) and Riccardo Calafiori (£6.0m). One was injury-related, if not serious sounding, the other not.
“Jurrien had a little discomfort in his foot in the last few days and obviously, after the amount of time that he’s been out we didn’t want to take any risk with him.
“In regards to Riccardo, so much happened to him in one week. He’s come into a new environment, different methodology and different training, so we are managing him and we want to do it slowly and in the best way possible. Hopefully, on Sunday, he will be available to play some minutes.” – Mikel Arteta
Two Gunners who did make their first appearances of pre-season were Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) and Declan Rice (£6.5m). Both emerged at the break, Saka on the right and Rice in the ‘left eight’ role.
Saka was heavily involved in Arsenal’s fourth goal, his low cross being inadvertently turned into the path of Kai Havertz (£8.0m).
Mikel Arteta was asked if he was happy to throw the pair straight back in in Gameweek 1:
“The season starts in nine days so they have to be ready. This is the demand that they have right now so we will look after them every day that they are with us. When we have the ability to give them days off we do, and we give them days off before the Euros. We have given them the rest that they needed. The best thing to do is look at their faces and see the spark in their eyes. Because they don’t want to miss it. They know how hard it’s going to be to get back.
“They will tell us how they are. You throw them in and we will see how they deal with everybody. But they certainly want to be involved.” – Mikel Arteta on Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice
We saw Havertz used in midfield and up front last season, his late-season stint up top leading to a positional reclassification in FPL. His time was divided between the two roles on Wednesday.
In the first half, he was an ‘eight’ in central midfield. After the break, following the withdrawal of Gabriel Jesus (£7.0m), he was the central striker – no surprise that his goal came, a few yards out, in the second half.
He had supplied assists for Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.0m) and Leandro Trossard (£7.0m) from his midfield berth in the opening 45 minutes. The second was a sublime team goal.
Jesus led the line before the interval, netting a solo strike for Arsenal’s third.
There is the possibility, given Jesus’s strong summer and Arteta’s comments below, that Havertz starts the season further back – although that would require Rice to be the ‘six’.
“I think it’s something you can see coming. It’s natural, it flows, there is good chemistry between them – as well with Leo [Trossard]. The three, they have that false nine profile. I really like what I saw today.” – Mikel Arteta on the relationship between Kai Havetz and Gabriel Jesus
“I said from day one [of pre-season], the first feeling when I saw him after talking to him at the end of the season… he was something different. I could sense it. His energy was different, the way he looks is different, the way he’s moving is different. He really wants it. Now it’s about finding that consistency and doing it in any context, against any opponent, against any formation, any day, every three days, for 90 minutes, for 30 minutes, for 70 minutes. What you are able to produce in those circumstances. It looks good.” – Mikel Arteta on Gabriel Jesus
With Calafiori not ready, Timber carrying a minor issue and Takehiro Tomiyasu (£5.0m) injured, Zinchenko took his chance at left-back and performed well. Even in the short term, however, there’s obvious rotation risk there.
Arsenal XI: Raya, White (Nichols 70), Saliba (Kiwior 46), Gabriel (Heaven 70), Zinchenko (Lewis-Skelly 46), Vieira (Saka 46), Jorginho (Partey 63), Ödegaard (Nwaneri 63), Havertz (Nketiah 70), Jesus (Rice 46), Trossard (Martinelli 81).
CHELSEA 1-2 REAL MADRID
- Goal: Madueke
- Assist: Enzo
Enzo Maresca cast Cole Palmer‘s (£10.5m) Gameweek 1 involvement in slight doubt when speaking after Chelsea’s final Stateside friendly.
Maresca admitted that the England international is not 100% certain to feature in the final pre-season kickabout with Inter on Sunday. The visit of Manchester City comes a week later.
Nicolas Jackson (£7.5m) and Marc Cucurella (£5.0m) are in the same boat.
“We will see when they play – not sure for Inter, hopefully for the City game. They are all important players. In terms of numbers, Cole and Nico scored almost 40 goals so they are both very important, and Marc too.
“The important thing is they start training with us, and soon we can use them.” – Enzo Maresca on Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and Marc Cucurella
The Chelsea defence looks like the biggest concern heading into Gameweek 1 – something that even Maresca agreed with after the match.
“It’s a problem we are trying to solve from pre-season, since day one. One of my first meetings with the squad was about the amount of goals we conceded last year with the defensive line very high.
“It’s something we are trying to work on. Today, offensively, we are there – the patterns are there. We created chances. The problem is defensively; when I say defensively I don’t just mean the defensive line, but in general, all the players.” – Enzo Maresca on Chelsea’s high line
That high line was breached time and time again, with both Real Madrid goals stemming from passes in behind the backline. Yes, it was the European champions – but it won’t get any easier in Gameweek 1 with City in town. On this evidence, Erling Haaland (£15.0m) is as much a captaincy candidate as Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) is against Ipswich Town.
There were positives. Budget FPL buy Romeo Lavia (£4.5m) is looking increasingly like he’ll be a starter in Gameweek 1, again used as the ‘six’ in midfield.
There were bright moments in attack, too. Noni Madueke (£6.5m) was sharp down the right, nodding in Chelsea’s only goal.
Christopher Nkunku (£6.5m) meanwhile was initially stationed as an attacking ‘eight’, later going up front when Marc Guiu (£5.0m) went off.
He gets into some good positions from that advanced midfield role, being denied from close range after the break and being within a better Raheem Sterling (£7.0m) pass of tapping into an empty net.
Above: Chelsea’s average positions, with Christopher Nkunku’s touch heatmap also featured (via Sofascore)
“For me, he played a very good game. We are trying to use him as an attacking midfielder and a striker, depends on the moment. Also, we are using him as a striker today because Marc [Guiu] was tired at the end. It’s normal but overall, the important thing for Christo, we are able to contact with him between the lines.
“Today we contact with Christo and Enzo [Fernandez] many, many times between the lines. This is the most important thing, to arrive there, and with time we will take chances and score more goals.” – Enzo Maresca on Christopher Nkunku
Chelsea XI: Jorgensen, James (Fofana 70), Badiashile, Colwill, Gusto, Fernandez, Lavia (Caicedo 58), Madueke, Nkunku, Sterling (Mudryk 58), Guiu (Dewsbury-Hall 66).
ASTON VILLA 3-2 ATHLETIC BILBAO
- Goals: Ramsey, Philogene, Archer
- Assists: Tielemans, Rogers, Buendia
Having spent much of pre-season in the ’10’ role, Morgan Rogers (£5.0m) led the line for Villa in their win over Athletic Bilbao.
It’s a temporary measure of course until Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) is available but yet another vote of confidence in Rogers’ ability to operate centrally. His flick for Jaden Philogene‘s (£5.5m) goal took him to five attacking returns for pre-season.
Jacob Ramsey (£5.5m) has been viewed as a threat to Rogers’ minutes but here the two were in the same XI, with the former on the left. Ramsey was on the scoresheet within 60 seconds, neat work from Rogers and Youri Tielemans (£5.5m) setting the England under-21 international free.
Substitute Cameron Archer (£5.0m) rounded off the scoring late on.
We weren’t a million miles away from Villa’s possible Gameweek 1 line-up here, with Joe Gauci (£4.0m) and Lamare Bogarde placeholders for Emi Martinez (£5.0m) and Ezri Konsa (£4.5m).
Watkins, Martinez, Konsa and Jhon Duran (£6.0m) all returned to training on Tuesday, so we could see them in Villa’s final friendly this weekend.
Interesting was the choice of left-back, given that Lucas Digne (£4.5m) has been linked with an exit. The Frenchman started here, with Ian Maatsen (£5.0m) emerging on the hour. Alex Moreno (£4.5m) was unused. From an FPL perspective, it’s not worth the risk at present.
Aston Villa XI: Gauci (Zych 45), Cash (Nedeljković 45), Bogarde, Torres (Swinkels 61), Digne (Maatsen 61), Onana (Dendoncker 61), Tielemans (Barkley 61), Bailey (Iling Jr 61), McGinn (Buendia 61), Ramsey (Philogene 45), Rogers (Archer 61).
FULHAM 1-2 SEVILLA
- Goal: Smith Rowe
- Assist: Robinson
A side that looked suspiciously like a reserve XI took to the field against Sevilla but many of the first teamers emerged after the interval.
Making an immediate impact off the bench was Emile Smith Rowe (£5.5m) on his Fulham bow.
Brought on at half-time, he took up the ’10’ role which led to Andreas Pereira (£5.5m) moving deeper.
Smith Rowe was consistently finding pockets of space in and around the Sevilla box, nodding in an Antonee Robinson (£4.5m) cross before almost netting again from the same source.
We’ll surely get to see Smith Rowe from the start in Saturday’s friendly against Hoffenheim. A convincing final audition will see his ownership rise further, with Fulham top of our Season Ticker in the opening six Gameweeks.
Above: The players with the biggest ownership changes in the last 24 hours, via Plan FPL
Robinson will be on many managers’ longlists before Gameweek 1, too. Again high and wide, he occasionally underlapped Alex Iwobi (£5.5m) – something he did for Smith Rowe’s goal.
Robinson and Iwobi have struck up a nice understanding in pre-season, with the Nigerian often drifting infield to open up space for Robinson down the left – as seen in CottageTactico‘s graphic below:
Robinson himself curled a shot narrowly wide, having gone close to a second assist for Smith Rowe.
Rodrigo Muniz (£6.0m) came on midway through the second half and fired narrowly over. The fact that he wasn’t part of the starting XI here was a good thing, given the second-string nature of it.
Fulham XI: Benda (Leno 46), Castagne (Tete 65), Diop (Bassey 65), Cuenca, Sessegnon (Robinson 46), Reed (Lukić 65), Pajaziti (Smith Rowe 46), Andreas (Cairney 65), Wilson (Adama 65), Raúl (Muniz 65), Godo (Iwobi 46′).
SOUTHAMPTON 1-1 LAZIO
- Goal: Brereton Diaz
- Assist: Alcaraz
There was a similar situation with Southampton, who are likely preserving their regulars for Saturday’s clash with Getafe.
Alex McCarthy (£4.5m), Ben Brereton Diaz (£5.5m) and Charlie Taylor (£4.0m) were the only starters here who are probably in with a good chance of lining up in Gameweek 1.
Brereton Diaz needs the extra minutes to get up to speed after a late return from the Copa America. Hooked at the break, it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to prove his fitness enough in the Saints’ final friendly to be considered on the opening weekend.
He reminded us of his potential after just a few minutes of this game, collecting Charly Alcaraz‘s (£5.0m) pass before curling in from distance. Remember that Brereton Diaz bagged six goals in just 14 starts in Sheffield United’s doomed fight to beat relegation.
Alcaraz was later sent off after a brawl broke out.
Budget FPL midfielder Samuel Amo-Ameyaw (£4.5m) got more minutes, starting on the right wing of a 3-4-3. On merit, he and Tyler Dibling deserve more of a look-in than the likes of Sekou Mara (£5.0m) and Samuel Edozie (£5.0m) – but let’s see how much their inexperience counts against them in their manager’s eyes.
Southampton XI: McCarthy, Edwards (Stephens 77), Wood, Manning (Dibling 46), Bree, Charles, Alcaraz, Taylor (Sugawara 86), Amo-Ameyaw (Aribo 72), Mara (Smallbone 72), Brereton Díaz (Edozie 46).
