Manchester United, Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton Wanderers were all engaged in midweek pre-season action on Wednesday.
We’ve rounded up a few key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from each of these matches below.
MANCHESTER UNITED 4-1 BOURNEMOUTH
- Goals: Hojlund, Dorgu, Diallo, Williams | de Ligt own-goal
- Assists: Dorgu, Mount, Hojlund, Leon | Brooks
The Red Devils have improved as their pre-season has rolled on, building on a 0-0 draw with Leeds and last weekend’s narrow Premier League Summer Series win over West Ham with a much more resounding 4-1 victory against Bournemouth.
“It’s just a pre-season game, but the feeling with the same players looks like a different team and that is a good sign.” – Ruben Amorim
Bargain buy Dorgu?
Patrick Dorgu (£4.5m) has promptly emerged as a key talking point in FPL circles following his Wednesday night outing. The Danish defender started at left wing-back for the second match in a row and ended this one with a goal and an assist to his name. There was also a clean sheet, technically, given that Dorgu was off the pitch by the time substitute Matthijs de Ligt (£5.0m) turned a late Cherries cross into his own net.
After setting up Rasmus Hojlund’s (£6.5m) early headed opener with a fine delivery, Dorgu turned scorer midway through the first half when he burst forward to latch onto a free-kick from Mason Mount (£6.0m).
Mount featured as one of Amorim’s dual No 10s, alongside Amad Diallo (£6.5m).
“He’s 20 years old. He looks more and more like he belongs in Manchester United, and that is hard to do [at] 20 years old, but he’s so powerful, he’s getting his technique in his game, he’s defending so well, he’s pressing so well. I’m really impressed with Patrick.” – Rubem Amorim on Patrick Dorgu
United’s second pair of goals were slightly scrappier. Amad finished well after pouncing on a loose ball in the box before teenage winger Ethan Williams scored his first for the club, having picked up possession following a darting run by young left-back newcomer Diego Leon (£4.5m).
Leon, 18, will likely be a back-up option for now, while Diogo Dalot (£4.5m) is more comfortable on the right flank. Luke Shaw (£4.5m) – who was “really strong”, according to post-match quotes from his manager – has featured only as a left-sided centre-back so far this pre-season as Lisandro Martinez (£5.0m) continues to recover from injury.
All that means Dorgu, for the time being at least, would appear to be the frontrunner at left wing-back. It’s a position which saw him take up plenty of advanced positions and could see him emerge as an early bargain this season.
Elsewhere in Amorim’s backline, budget-friendly centre-back Ayden Heaven (£4.0m) was restricted to substitute duty. Tom Heaton (£4.0m) was the only man to play the entire match for United, meanwhile. The 39-year-old has split pre-season goalkeeping duties with Altay Bayindir (£4.5m) due to Andre Onana’s (£5.0m) injury.
Bruno deeper despite no Cunha or Mbeumo
Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m) is still yet to make his United debut, but may not have to wait much longer. Amorim had this to say ahead of Wednesday’s match:
“Bryan is starting slowly. He is not going to play in the next one. We hope to have Bryan in the last game [against Everton, on Sunday 3 August]. He’s training now, so we’ll see.” – Ruben Amorim
Fellow summer arrival Matheus Cunha (£8.0m) was also missing from this latest pre-season win, despite starting the last two fixtures. The Brazilian’s absence was down to “fatigue”.
Even though those two – Amorim’s presumed first-choice pairing behind his chosen central striker, be that Hojlund or a potential newcomer like Benjamin Sesko – weren’t present, Bruno Fernandes (£9.0m) dropped back into central midfield alongside Casemiro (£5.5m) after his successful outing as a No10 last weekend. It’s becoming increasingly likely that this deeper role is where we’ll see the club captain more often than not this season, which could boost his defensive contribution (DC) points but may hinder his attacking output from open play even if the Portuguese maintains dominance over set pieces. Something to keep an eye on over the next few weeks.
Speaking of United’s striker situation, Amorim said he was “really happy” with Hojlund’s performances and that the team is “playing better because he’s playing better”. However, he admitted that he doesn’t know “what is going to happen until the end of the market” amid reports of advancing discussions about Sesko with RB Leipzig.
Petrovic starts again, ‘new Kerkez’ benched, still no Kluivert
Former Chelsea man Djordje Petrovic (£4.5m) started in goal again for the Cherries. This obviously wasn’t as solid an outing as his first for his new club, but still seemingly indicates that he should be Andoni Iraola’s new first-choice ‘keeper.
Philip Billing (£5.0m) missed the chance to score for the third straight match since returning from his Napoli loan, having netted against Everton and Hibs so far in pre-season. His game-time in central midfield could be boosted this season due to the MCL injury suffered by Lewis Cook (£5.0m), though.
Instead, it was similarly-priced substitute David Brooks (£5.0m) who forced a late consolation goal for Bournemouth, when de Ligt knocked his cross into the net. The Welshman had previously seen a separate shot deflected onto the crossbar, also by de Ligt.
That in turn came after shot monster Antoine Semenyo (£7.0m) had a first-half goal ruled out for offside. He, alongside centre-back Marcos Senesi (£4.5m), were the only two of Iraola’s troops to last the full 90 minutes.
Adrien Truffert (£4.5m) – the Cherries’ Milos Kerkez (£6.0m) replacement who scored a brace recently for his new club – was only a second-half substitute in Chicago. He is still generally expected to be ahead of Julio Soler (£4.0m) in Iraola’s long-term pecking order.
Evanilson (£7.0m) led the line again and could provide solid FPL value at his price, but the continued absence of Justin Kluivert (£7.0m) – who does appear to be stateside with the squad, given club pictures and this interview with CBS Sports Golazo, but also missed out against Everton – meant it was instead Marcus Tavernier (£5.5m) and Ouattara Dango (£6.0m) alongside Semenyo as the attacking midfield trio.
Manchester United XI (3-4-2-1): Heaton; Yoro (Mainoo 71), Maguire (de Ligt 46), Shaw (Collyer 71); Dalot (Ugarte 71), Casemiro (Mantato 71), Fernandes (Leon 71), Dorgu (Fredricson 71); Amad (Williams 71), Mount (Heaven 71); Hojlund (Obi-Martin 71)
Bournemouth XI (4-2-3-1): Petrovic (Dennis 62); Araujo (Truffert 62), Zabarnyi (Mepham 76), Senesi, Soler (Smith 62); Billing (Adu-Adjei 76), Hill (Traore 62); Semenyo, Tavernier (Faivre 76), Ouattara (Brooks 62); Evanilson (Adams 76)
NOTTINGHAM FOREST 0-0 ESTORIL PRAIA
No goals to report from Forest’s latest outing. This was the Tricky Trees’ third 0-0 draw in four pre-season matches!
Those other stalemates have come versus Chesterfield and Monaco, while this was against Lisbon-based outfit Estoril – who finished eighth in the Portuguese top flight last term – and followed last weekend’s defeat by Fulham.
Nuno Espirito Santo fielded a relatively strong starting XI but the likes of Chris Wood (£7.5m) – Forest’s sole goal-scorer so far in pre-season – and Neco Williams (£5.0m) were unable to build on Saturday’s attacking returns before their half-time withdrawals. Morgan Gibbs-White (£7.5m) could provide similarly little.
There were wholesale changes at the interval, as has become the norm for Nuno over the last few weeks, which led to what looked to be more of a back five featuring Nikola Milenkovic (£5.5m) and new arrival Jair Cunha (£4.5m). Callum Hudson-Odoi (£6.0m) and teenager Jimmy Sinclair then probably had the best chances to break the deadlock but ultimately failed to do so.
The lack of pre-season goals is a potential concern for Nuno despite his team keeping three clean sheets – including this latest one without unused substitutes Murillo (£5.5m) or Ola Aina (£5.0m) – in four attempts.
Wednesday’s action concluded Forest’s warm weather training camp in the Algarve, with Saturday’s match at Championship side Birmingham City next up.
Nottingham Forest first-half XI (4-3-1-2): Sels; Abbot, Morato, Boly, Williams; Yates, Sangare, Anderson; Gibbs-White; I.Jesus, Wood
Nottingham Forest second-half XI: Bott; Cunha, Milenkovic, Carmo, Hudson-Odoi, Jota Silva, Whitehall, Berry, Sinclair, Awoniyi, Powell
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 1-3 LENS
- Goals: Guedes
- Assists: Hwang
Unlike Forest, Wolves at least got on the score sheet on Wednesday.
But much like Bournemouth against United, theirs was a mere consolation goal in the end as Vitor Pereira’s side were beaten for the second time in pre-season.
Last season’s fifth-ranked Portuguese club Santa Clara were the first side to get one over on the Old Gold a little under two weeks ago, after which point Wolves have drawn against Burnley and Stoke before this latest loss to Ligue 1 side Lens.
The two teams were level at half-time, when the first few of Pereira’s nine changes were made, but the French club then went 2-0 up before substitute Goncalo Guedes (£5.5m) netted a long-range individual effort, which quickly sparked a decisive third of the match for Lens.
£4.0m Hoever at wing-back again
With new arrival Jhon Arias (£5.5m) yet to feature and little positive news to report from an attacking sense, perhaps the most noteworthy FPL talking point from this match was Ki-Jana Hoever (£4.0m).
The 23-year-old Dutchman has started each of Wolves’ pre-season outings at right wing-back, and could be one to keep an eye on if he continues there as the new season approaches. The departed Nelson Semedo is yet to be replaced with any new signing.
Hoever made way at the break this time for Rodrigo Gomes (£4.5m), who has hitherto been the challenger for Hugo Bueno (£4.5m) at left wing-back.
No matter the formation or personnel, though, Pereira will hope his side can find their first pre-season win when they take on Girona on Sunday.
Wolves XI (3-4-2-1): Sa (Bentley 46); Doherty, Agbadou (S.Bueno 60), Toti; Hoever (R.Gomes 46), Andre (Kalajdzic 82), J.Gomes (Munetsi 60), H.Bueno (Lima 60); Bellegarde (Chirewa 60), Lopez (Guedes 60); Stand Larsen (Hwang 60)
