The pre-season friendlies continued at the weekend with Liverpool, Sunderland, Fulham and Hull City in action.

We take a look at the key talking points from these matches, including team selection, minutes, injuries, tactical changes and the players who boosted or dented their Fantasy Premier League (FPL) appeal before the season gets underway.

READ MORE: FPL 2026/27 Pre-season Minutes, Goals + Assists Tracker

LIVERPOOL 4-2 SUNDERLAND

• Goals: Morrison, Szoboszlai, Chiesa, Koumas | Le Fee, Tutierov
• Assists: Elliott, Ramsey, Szoboszlai | Rigg, Ja Jones

Liverpool first half XI: Mamardashvili; Frimpong, Gomez (Ndukwe 10′), Ndiaye, Tsimikas; McConnell, Jones; Morrison, Elliott, Ngumoha; Wright

Liverpool second half XI: Mamardashvili (Woodman 67′); Frimpong (Ramsay 67′), Ndukwe, Ndiaye (Chambers 67′), Kerkez; Nyoni, McConnell (Scanlon 57′), Szoboszlai; Morrison (Abe 67′), Chiesa, Koumas

Sunderland first half XI: Ellborg; Mukiele, Ballard, O’Nien, Reinildo; Browne, Le Fee, Rigg; Hume, Mundle, Isidor

Sunderland second half XI: Ellborg (Moore 68); Je Jones, Seelt, Hjelde, Lightfoot; Ja Jones, Whittaker, Proctor; Geragusian, Tutierov, Ogunsuyi

SCOUT NOTES

• Several players remained out for Liverpool after featuring at the World Cup, including Alisson (£5.5m), Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m), Ryan Gravenberch (£6.0m), Cody Gakpo (£7.0m), Florian Wirtz (£7.5m), Alexis Mac Allister (£5.5m), Alexander Isak (£9.0m) and Victor Munoz (£6.5m).

“They are already there in Chicago. They are waiting for us. Alex [Isak], Flo [Wirtz] and Ryan [Gravenberch]. They will start training from tomorrow with us and we still have two more games [in the USA].” – Andoni Iraola

• Liverpool also remained without several players through injury or a lack of match fitness. Hugo Ekitiké (£7.5m) and Conor Bradley (£5.0m) are out long-term with respective Achilles and ACL injuries, while Wataru Endo (£5.0m) was recovering from an ankle knock.
• Sunderland were missing an even larger World Cup contingent, including Omar Alderete (£5.0m), Granit Xhaka (£5.5m), Brian Brobbey (£6.0m), Nilson Angulo (£5.0m), Arthur Masuaku (£4.0m), Thomas Meunier (£4.5m) and Robin Roefs (£5.0m) all still away after their international commitments. Jocelin Ta Bi (£5.0m) was unable to travel with the rest of the squad owing to his VISA application being rejected, after he did not meet the USA entry criteria.
• As is the case with early summer friendlies, both managers effectively played two first XIs in each half, as they sought to manage their players’ demanding training workloads. However, there was bad news for Liverpool just eight minutes in: Joe Gomez (£5.0m) went down with a worrying-looking muscle issue. New signing, Ifeanyi Ndukwe, 18, came on in his place and looked assured alongside fellow teenage centre-back Mor Talla Ndiaye. With Ibrahima Konate having left for Real Madrid, Giovanni Leoni (£4.0m) still months away from first-team action following his ACL injury and Jeremy Jacquet (£5.0m) being handled carefully, the Reds will surely have to address their lack of defensive cover in the transfer market.

“With Jeremy, we decided to take it easy with him. He has been a lot of months without playing with a shoulder injury. So, I think we are going to take it easy with him. He will play probably the last game of this US tour and he will have time to have minutes. It’s true that we were kind of happy but we’ve lost one now.” – Andoni Iraola on Jeremy Jacquet

“Probably the worst news has been straight away the injury of Joe [Gomez]. We were happy because we were kind of going through all the training without losing any player. Unluckily for us, straight away we’ve lost Joe.” – Andoni Iraola on Joe Gomez

• Giorgi Mamardashvili (£5.0m) was powerless to prevent Sunderland’s equaliser, an absolute howitzer from Enzo Le Fee (£6.0m), but the Frenchman was given the freedom of Nashville to advance after James McConnell (£4.5m) had ceded possession before letting fly from range. Similarly, Sunderland’s second goal stemmed from a sloppy giveaway by Jeremie Frimpong (£5.5m), which enabled Ukrainian forward Timu Tutierov to race clear to take his chance.
• Liverpool began brightly and strung together some nice passages of play, not least the move for the opening goal, which involved an interchange between McConnell, Rio Ngumoha (£6.0) and Harvey Elliott (£5.5m). However, Sunderland battled their way back gamely, taking their two chances with ruthless efficiency.
• The Reds improved after the break, with half-time substitute Dominik Szoboszlai (£7.0m) showing his class with a wonderful long-range drive, before Calvin Ramsay (£4.0m) played a threaded pass in for Federica Chiesa (£5.5m) to put Liverpool back in front. Kieran Morrison wrapped things up with five minutes to go after a nice assist from Szoboszlai.
• Second-half substitute Milos Kerkez (£5.5m) injected plenty of energy and pace down the left flank, pushing high up the pitch.

“I like it. You see me higher. I can play higher, going one against one.” – Milos Kerkez

• The main takeaways from Liverpool’s perspective is that Szoboszlai remains a class act and a very appealing FPL prospect for the season ahead, while at the back Liverpool most definitely need reinforcements.
• With so many first-team players missing, it’s difficult to read too much into Sunderland’s display. Le Fee’s wonderful strike in this match, and the fact he should have scored a second, suggests that with a Premier League campaign under his belt, he could prove an under-the-radar asset for 2026/27. He is, after all, a penalty and set-piece taker too.
• Dan Ballard (£5.0m) and Nordi Mukiele (£5.5m) acquitted themselves well for their first-half appearance, the former looking assured when bringing the ball out of defence and the latter largely succeeding in keeping Ngumoha quiet, albeit giving the ball away with one or two errant passes.
• Brobbey links up with the Sunderland squad this week, so watch this space.

KONYASPOR 0-3 HULL

• Goals: Destan, Kamara
• Assists: Tinsdale x2, Millar

Hull City XI: Butland (Phillips 46’); Drameh (Coyle 60’), McNair (Ajayi 60’), McCarthy (Egan 60’), Jacob (Giles 46’, Okike 79’); Zambrano (Slater 60’), Gyabi (Crooks 60’), Ömür (Tinsdale 22’, Dowell 60’); Kamara (Silk 75’), Destan (Burstow 32’, McBurnie 60’), Akintola (Millar 60’).

SCOUT NOTES

• New signings Jack Butland (£4.5m) and Oscar Zambrano (£4.5m) featured in a comfortable 3-0 win for the Tigers. Butland was called upon inside four minutes to make a save from Deniz Türüç’s 30-yarder, and he kept another shot out with his legs before being replaced at half-time by Dillon Phillips (£4.0m).
• Hull set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Enis Destan (£4.5m) spearheading the attack, supported by Abdüş Ömür (£5.0m), Abu Kamara (£5.0m) and David Akintola (£5.0m).
• The first goal was all about Nathan Tinsdale, who provided the assist almost immediately after replacing the injured Ömür. He delivered a pinpoint cross on 28 minutes that Destan, who came off for Mason Burstow (£4.5m) in a pre-planned change two minutes later, met with a towering header.
• Sergej Jakirović made two changes at half-time, Phillips and Ryan Giles (£4.0m) replacing Butland and Matty Jacob (£4.0m), who had picked up a yellow card inside the opening minute.
• Giles played a key role in Hull’s second goal on 52 minutes, delivering a wicked cross that was touched on by Tinsdale and pushed on to his team-mate by goalkeeper Bahadır Güngördü for an unfortunate own goal. The left-back gave a lively display, and almost scored himself, surging forward from deep, beating two men and unleashing a fierce shot that Güngördü tipped over.
• Eight players were introduced on the hour-mark, including promotion hero Oli McBurnie (£5.5m), who looked bright when he came on. He was denied by Güngördü when he attempted to round the goalkeeper and scored late on, heading a corner in from Ryan Slater (£4.5m), only to see his effort chalked off for a foul.
• Hull scored their third on 73 minutes when Liam Millar (£5.0m) broke away down the left flank before crossing for Kamara to connect with a first-time finish.
• Main takeaways from this match was a good debut for Butland, a promising display by Giles and signs of cutting edge from Kamara and McBurnie.

FULHAM 0-2 NORWICH

Fulham XI: Leno (Lecomte 46′), Tete (White 46′), Amissah (Andersen 46′), Bassey (Cuenca 46′), Nwoko (Araujo 25′, Sessegnon 46′), Reed (Cairney 46′), Lukić (Harris 46′, Dibley Dias 75′), King (Zepa 46′), Iwobi (Smith Rowe 46′), Kevin (Ali Wahid 46′), Muniz (Kusi-Asare 46′)

SCOUT NOTES

• Álvaro Arbeloa’s tenure at Fulham got off to a losing start as they were beaten 2-0 by Norwich City at Motspur Park. 24 players gained valuable minutes against the Championship side.
• Clearly, Arbeloa is only just getting to know his players. He set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
• Josh King (£5.5m) was in from the off after spending time with England in the United States at their pre-World Cup camp in Florida. Also involved in the opening period were first-team options Kenny Tete (£4.5m), Calvin Bassey (£4.5m), Harrison Reed (£4.5m), Sasa Lukić (£5.0m), Alex Iwobi (£5.5m), and Kevin (£5.5m), who was booked before being withdrawn.
• Norwich took the lead just inside 20 minutes when Mathias Kvistgaarden centred for Anis Ben Slimane to finish.
• Bernd Leno (£4.5m) did well to thwart Matěj Jurásek, when he was set clear on goal, the German standing strong to bat away the attempted dink.
• Kevin provided some dangerous moments as Fulham sought a response, but after the winger weaved into the area, his delicate effort was cleared away.
• After the break, Ryan Sessegnon’s (£4.5m) deflected shot was pushed wide by Vladan Kovačević, while first-team debutant Farhaan Ali Wahid tried his luck with a curling effort from distance.
• But Philippe Clement’s team doubled their lead just after the hour mark when a corner was headed back across goal and centre-back Harry Darling nodded in from close range.
• Tom Cairney (£5.0m) was given the chance to have a strike at goal after Emile Smith Rowe (£5.5m) was brought down just outside the penalty area, but the Fulham captain’s effort went just wide.
• All in all, pretty disappointing fare from the west Londoners, who might be lacking that cutting edge this season now that Raúl Jiménez has returned to Wolves.