FPL pre-season: Kostoulas brace + Chelsea formation hints

On the final weekend of FIFA’s 2026 World Cup, several Premier League teams found themselves playing pre-season friendlies.

Here are some Scout Notes on Brighton and Hove Albion, Chelsea and Coventry City – although Xabi Alonso’s Blues were behind closed doors, making their section particularly brief.

Don’t forget to check out our detailed Pre-Season Minutes Tracker, too.

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BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION 4-1 Wycombe Wanderers

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Goals: Kostoulas (x2), Osman, Rutter
Assists: Minteh, Osman, Keogh, Boscagli

First-half Brighton XI: McGill; Tasker, Simmonds, Struijk, Keogh; Baleba, Howell; Osman, Kostoulas, Minteh; Welbeck.

Second-half Brighton XI: Hall; Middleton, Barclay, Boscagli, Cashin; Yalcouye, Hinshelwood; Cozier-Duberry, Doyle, Watson; Rutter.

NOTES

Brighton began pre-season comfortably, thanks to two smart Charalampos Kostoulas finishes, an overhead kick from Ibrahim Osman, and a fourth goal that saw Oliver Boscagli get forward and whip a cross onto Georginio Rutter‘s head. The 19-year-old and highly rated Kostoulas was a £5.0m forward last season, with his transition to English football managed very gradually. He should see more league starts this time around.
First-teamers Danny Welbeck, Yankuba Minteh and Carlos Baleba started the match at the Seagulls’ training ground.
There were also 45 minutes for new centre-back signing Pascal Struijk. His pass to Minteh pre-assisted the first goal.
As for 21-year-old Ghanaian Osman, he was bought over two years ago for £16 million, subsequently spending time on loan at Feyenoord, Auxerre and Birmingham. Being involved in two first-half strikes shows promise.
After the break, Fabian Hurzeler sent out a completely different XI. Familiar names included Boscagli, Rutter and Jack Hinshelwood.
Next up is a Saturday clash with Ligue 2 side FC Annecy, part of their private pre-season training camp.
World Cup representatives like Pascal Gross, Diego Gomez, Ferdi Kadioglu, Maxim De Cuyper and Bart Verbruggen will soon be back from their post-tournament rest.

CHELSEA 3-1 Crawley Town

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Goals: Gittens, Delap, Emegha

No starting XI information available

NOTES

Held at Chelsea’s training ground, new boss Alonso was without plenty of World Cup representatives, such as Enzo Fernandez or Reece James.
Instead, he gave minutes to youth talent such as Reggie Walsh, Reggie Watson, Genesis Antwi and Dastan Satpayev. It sounds like the former Liverpool midfielder used a different second-half lineup.
Of course, no confirmed lineup news means it’s currently too early to identify Alonso’s intended formation. Will it be the 3-4-2-1 that brought success at Bayer Leverkusen? The suggestions, actually, are that he trialled a 4-2-3-1.
Despite incorrect rumours of a 7-0 win over League Two Crawley, the Blues instead won 3-1.
It’s interesting to see centre-forward Emmanuel Emegha on the scoresheet. The 23-year-old arrives from partner club Strasbourg, where 26 goals took place across 65 Ligue 1 appearances.
On Thursday, there’ll be another private match versus Bromley, before the Blues fly to Australia.

Northampton Town 0-0 COVENTRY CITY

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Coventry XI (first half): Wilson; van Ewijk, Thomas, Perry, Bidwell; Torp, Grimes; Tchaouna, Eccles, Mason-Clark; Simms.

Coventry XI (second half): Wilson; Kesler-Hayden, Kitching, Latibeaudiere, Dasilva; Torp (Raphael 63′), Onyeka; Sakamoto, Andrews, Markelo; Simms (Bassette 63′).

NOTES

After losing to AFC Wimbledon, the Sky Blues had to experience a goalless draw at the Sixfields Stadium.
New signing Loum Tchaouna got minutes on the right wing, linking up well with full-back Milan van Ewijk. Just before half-time, the latter put in a good cross that narrowly evaded Ephron Mason-Clark.
Frank Lampard made eight changes at the break, yet the likes of Jack Rudoni, Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante weren’t around.
A loanee made permanent, Frank Onyeka tried his luck from distance. Meanwhile, Raphael ran clean through on goal but could only produce a tame effort.