Bournemouth began life without Dominic Solanke (£7.5m) with a closing pre-season friendly win over Girona.
Everything of note from a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) perspective we’ll bring you in these Scout Notes.
And we’ll also run the rule over West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers in their final warm-up matches of the summer.
- READ MORE: FPL pre-season: Gordon fitness update, £4.0m Johnson advanced
- READ MORE: FPL pre-season: Ange reveals if Solanke will start in Gameweek 1
- READ MORE: FPL pre-season: What Pep said about Bobb + Savinho’s City debut
- READ MORE: FPL 2024/25 pre-season minutes tracker: Every player, every game
- READ MORE: FPL 2024/25 complete pre-season guide
BOURNEMOUTH 3-2 GIRONA
- Goals: Kluivert pen, Sinisterra, Jebbison
- Assist: Christie, Ouattara, Faivre
Who will replace the outgoing Solanke and who inherits penalty-taking duties at Bournemouth are two subplots of the striker’s £65m move to Tottenham Hotspur.
We may have already got a heads-up on the new spot-kick taker.
The Cherries were awarded a penalty after just six minutes of Saturday’s win over Girona when Ryan Christie (£5.0m) was felled. Up stepped Justin Kluivert (£5.5m) to coolly slot in from 12 yards.
On the field at the time were Antoine Semenyo (£5.5m), Philip Billing (£5.0m), Luis Sinisterra (£5.0m) and indeed Scotland taker Christie, who all might have fancied their chances of succeeding Solanke.
It could be meaningless with this being a pre-season friendly. Any replacement for Solanke, whoever that is, may also have designs on penalty-taking responsibilities. But for now, Kluivert has to be the best guess.
As for who succeeds Solanke as the main striker, we’ll likely not know the answer to that until after the transfer window has closed. Remember that Enes Unal (£5.5m) still has to return from injury, too.
“The club is working on it. It’s never easy to sign forwards, especially number nines. There are not a lot with a level close to the one we lost. But I’m sure the club will do their best and we will be fine. I don’t know about financial fair play or ask about the numbers. Everything is under control. The club knows very well what they are doing.” – Andoni Iraola on Dominic Solanke’s replacement
Here, we had three different players leading the line. In the first half, Billing. From the start of the second half, Semenyo. And, for the final 15 minutes, Daniel Jebbison (£4.5m).
Optimistic FPL managers looking for a cheap starting striker would have hoped for Jebbison to start this game and stake a first-team claim. He didn’t – but he did at least come off the bench to score: a saved Romain Faivre (£5.0m) effort fell kindly into Jebbison’s path to tap in a late winner.
So, minutes for Jebbison in Gameweek 1 look very possible – but a start is still a stretch.
Otherwise, this team looked almost full strength. You could imagine Marcus Tavernier (£5.5m) challenging for a spot in Gameweek 1, while Murara Neto (£4.5m) missed this match as a precaution.
Andoni Iraola had good news on him and on the head injury that forced Marcos Senesi (£5.0m) off early.
“[Neto] woke up with back problems. If not [Sunday], then I expect the next day he will be fine. I think like we’ve done all of pre-season, in the friendlies we haven’t risked anyone.
“I’m happy because I think we are going to arrive with, apart from the three players that had surgeries (Enes Unal, Tyler Adams and David Brooks), the rest are going to be ready for the league.”
“I don’t think [Senesi’s injury] serious. It’s ugly. I think he has a big cut. They put in stitches and for sure he will have a scar, probably forever. But it was not a concussion. He was feeling perfect. If it was a league game, probably he would have continued. But the same way as we were talking about Neto, it didn’t make any sense to make him play when he was bleeding and uncomfortable.” – Andoni Iraola
Sinisterra nodded in the Cherries’ other goal from a Dango Ouattara (£5.0m) cross.
This was a very solid performance from Bournemouth against Champions League opposition – albeit a side rotated after also playing at Newcastle on Friday.
Bournemouth XI: Travers (Dennis 76), Smith (Hill 76) Senesi (Huijsen 43), Zabarnyi, Kerkez (Aarons 66), Christie (Faivre 76), Scott (Cook 76), Sinisterra (Anthony 76), Semenyo (Jebbison 76), Kluivert (Ouattara 66), Billing (Tavernier 46).
WEST HAM UNITED 2-2 CELTA VIGO
- Goals: Bowen, Paqueta
- Assist: Paqueta, Bowen
The slow West Ham rebuild under Julen Lopetegui continues. On Saturday, the Hammers boss could call upon Jarrod Bowen (£7.5m) and Lucas Paqueta (£6.0m) for the first time. He also gave debuts off the bench to new boys Guido Rodriguez (£5.0m), Crysencio Summerville (£6.0m) and Niclas Fullkrug (£7.0m).
It may not be for another month or two that we see Lopetegui’s West Ham side in full flow. The former Wolves manager admitted after full-time, indeed, that fitness is a bit of an issue at present.
“They both played their first minutes with us today, and of course, they aren’t ready for 90 minutes at the moment. That’s why today’s game was really important, and so that we can make sure all of the players are in a good place to compete against Aston Villa.
“We know that some players are heading into the new season with a small number of minutes, but this is something we have to be ready to adapt to and make sure we’re ready for the first match.” – Julen Lopetegui on Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta
“They are going to need time because they are coming into a new club and Guido [Rodríguez] and Niclas [Füllkrug] haven’t had full pre-seasons before joining us, so they have to work very hard in the next couple of weeks to be ready to help us in the early weeks of the season.” – Julen Lopetegui on his new signings
A lack of match fitness is temporary, class is permanent. Bowen and Paqueta combined beautifully for each other’s goals, the Brazilian also seeing an effort ruled out for offside. That too had originated from Bowen’s corner.
Summerville also looked bright when he came on, operating down the left.
The main concern, strangely for a side managed by Lopetegui, is the defence.
There were nervy moments aplenty at the back, hesitant defending leading to the two Celta Vigo goals.
On the positive side, the Hammers still have new centre-half Jean-Clair Todibo to integrate. Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.5m), a defensively sound right-back for all his attacking shortcomings, may be joining too. Edson Alvarez (£5.0m) has yet to feature in pre-season, while fellow midfield spoiler Rodriguez needs to build stamina. Once the new signings are bedded in and fitness isn’t an issue, this backline could look a lot more secure.
West Ham United XI: Areola (Fabiański 45), Coufal, Mavropanos (Aguerd 45), Kilman, Emerson (Cresswell 72), Rodriguez (Ward-Prowse 45), Souček, Paquetá (Earthy 67), Bowen (Summerville 67), Kudus (Luis Guilherme 88), Antonio (Füllkrug 60).
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 0-1 RAYO VALLECANO
Wolves fell a little flat in their final pre-season game, despite naming a side that very well might be facing Arsenal next weekend.
Matt Doherty (£4.5m), and not Pedro Lima (£4.0m), started at right-back, no doubt with one eye on covering for the banned Nelson Semedo (£4.5m) at the Emirates.
But another bargain-bin FPL defender, Yerson Mosquera (£4.0m), looks poised to line up in Gameweek 1. Given another start, he lasted 90 minutes here in the four-man defence.
To mitigate the goal shortage, Jorgen Strand Larsen (£5.5m) played through the game with a groin issue. Matheus Cunha (£6.5m) was still absent, too, but looks set to be fit for Gameweek 1.
“Jorgen had a little issue in the warm-up with his groin which was a little frustrating. He felt he was ok to play and I was desperate not to risk him but he said he was fine, so we got him an hour and hopefully, he’ll be ok.
“[Cunha will] be back on the grass on Monday and should be back in training a day or two after that. He’ll be available for Arsenal, we just have to see how much work he does between now and then to see how long he’ll be available for. If all goes to plan, I expect him to be in the squad for the weekend.” – Gary O’Neil
Strand Larsen, as the attacking returns column backs up, still looks more likely to assist than score. Rodrigo Gomes (£5.5m) and Hwang Hee-chan (£6.5m) carried the greater goal threat, the former one to watch in the £5.5m midfielder pool. Gomes, pacy down the left flank, teed up Hwang for an early smothered chance before unsuccessfully trying to set up Strand Larsen for a tap-in.
Hwang also missed a late sitter.
Vallecano weren’t that much more a threat, their only goal coming from distance. Even Gary O’Neil admitted it was a dull spectacle.
“I’ve got quite a lot out of the others, but I didn’t enjoy today. I thought it was flat and I didn’t think we got much out of the game. The way Vallecano played didn’t help us get much from it either because they were really direct, went 1-0 up quite early and let us have the ball, and we struggled to progress, which we might face sometimes, but it wasn’t like Premier League game today.” – Gary O’Neil
Wolves XI: Sa, Doherty (Lima 68), Mosquera, Toti, Ait-Nouri (Semedo 85), Lemina (Doyle 64), J Gomes (Chiquinho 77), Sarabia (Bellegarde 64), R Gomes, Hwang, Strand Larsen (Guedes 64).
