We’ve been looking at the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) takeaways from the penultimate weekend of pre-season friendlies.
There’s just one article to go – and it concerns the matches involving Manchester City, Manchester United and Ipswich Town.
READ MORE: FPL 2026/27 Pre-season Minutes, Goals + Assists Tracker
Here are the brief Scout Notes from these games.
MANCHESTER CITY 3-1 Atletico Madrid
- Goals: Marmoush (x2), Ait-Nouri
- Assists: Semenyo (x2), Mubama
Man City XI: Donnarumma; Nunes, Ruben, Reis (Lewis 46), Gvardiol; Kovacic (Nico 61), Reijnders; Savinho (Echeverri 83), Foden, Semenyo (Mubama 64); Marmoush (Ait-Nouri 77)
SCOUT NOTES
- Enzo Maresca’s side ended their tour of Asia in Seoul, although Atletico took the lead against the run of play.
- Constantly getting the ball to wingers Antoine Semenyo (£8.5m) and Savinho (£6.5m) proved successful, helping them come from behind and win.
- In another standout performance, the Ghanaian assisted two more times, making it five in three. Last season’s number one midfielder for goals (17) and box shots (61), he’s becoming hard to resist for our Gameweek 1 squads.
- At full stretch to keep the ball in play, Semenyo then set off on a left-sided dribble that perfectly set up Omar Marmoush‘s (£7.0m) opener. Soon after, it was the same combination, although Semenyo looked comfortably offside when sent clear by Josko Gvardiol (£5.5m).
“I think you can play well, but the end product is the most important thing. l think the first half was a bit unfair – we created four, five chances. But the difference was inside the box. We didn’t score. The big difference was there. But for sure you need a player out wide who can create unbalance, especially when they go one v one.” – Enzo Maresca
- Alternatively, for a bit less money, FPL managers can take a risk on Phil Foden‘s (£7.0m) minutes. Reportedly a key part of Maresca’s plan, he had four shots in these 90 minutes.
- His corner also led to Gvardiol’s point-blank headed miss. Still, it’s positive that the Croatian got into such attacking positions, also racking up nine defensive contribution (DefCon) actions while Ruben Dias (£5.5m) got eight.
- Defensive colleague Abdukodir Khusanov (£5.5m) wasn’t at the match for family reasons.
- However, the main focus on Sunday’s Community Shield will be the game time of Erling Haaland (£15.5m), Nico O’Reilly (£6.5m), Marc Guehi (£6.0m), Jeremy Doku (£7.5m), Rayan Cherki (£7.5m) and Elliot Anderson (£6.5m). None of these World Cup names has played any pre-season minutes, so there’ll be some nervy glances towards Maresca’s team sheet – could the 74.1%-owned Norwegian be a doubt for Gameweek 1?
- Joining them in such an absence is Rodri (£6.5m), who is being linked with a move to Barcelona.
- Perhaps it’s best to avoid Man City defenders for tricky opening matches against Bournemouth and Crystal Palace. They’ve conceded in all three summer friendlies.
- Listed as an FPL defender, Rayan Ait-Nouri (£5.5m) came on from the bench as a winger. Put clean through by Claudio Echeverri (£5.0m), his poor first touch took the ball to Atletico’s goalkeeper, though 20 seconds later the Algerian ensured victory by staying onside to calmly finish Divin Mubama‘s through ball.
MANCHESTER UNITED 1-1 Paris Saint-Germain
- Goals: Mbeumo
- Assists: Amad
Man United XI: Heaton (Mee 49′); Mazraoui (Dalot HT), Maguire, Heaven (Yoro HT), Shaw (Amass 64′); Mount (T Fletcher 20′), Andrey Santos (Tielemans 64′); Amad (J Fletcher 64′), Lacey, Dorgu (Fernandes 64′); Mbeumo (Zirkzee 64′)
SCOUT NOTES
- Meanwhile, their Manchester rivals were in Gothenburg, facing back-to-back European champions Paris Saint-Germain. Michael Carrick’s sole change from their own win over Atletico brought in Nouassir Mazraoui (£4.5m) for Leny Yoro (£5.0m).
- In the 20th minute, Mason Mount (£5.5m) was pointing to his left foot, causing an early substitution. But afterwards he said it was “all good”.
“He just got a kick. So we just wanted [it] to be a precaution really, to look after him. We want to keep the group strong and we’ve been fortunate to get everyone to this stage fit and well, so we wanted to be careful with that.” – Michael Carrick on Mason Mount’s early withdrawal
- Popular FPL pick Luke Shaw (£4.5m) took a slight knock, but was soon running ok.
- The Red Devils’ two opening fixtures are against newly promoted sides, so the form of Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m) is encouraging. Racking up five attempts and four shots on target here, he’s scored their latest three pre-season goals.
- This one saw an eager Amad Diallo (£6.0m) win the ball high upfield to feed Mbeumo for a first-time left-footer across goal into the bottom corner.
- He’s currently playing up front in Benjamin Sesko‘s (£7.0m) shin-related absence. Maybe he’ll keep that out-of-position spot versus Hull City and Ipswich Town.
- Elsewhere, cameos brought the first summer minutes of Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m), Youri Tielemans (£6.0m) and Diogo Dalot (£5.0m). FPL’s most expensive midfielder almost won it near the end, but curled one just wide.
- As well as Sesko, there have been no minutes for the ill Matheus Cunha (£8.0m) and Senne Lammens (£5.0m). But they, plus England World Cup duo Kobbie Mainoo (£5.5m) and Marcus Rashford (£7.0m), will join the squad in Ireland to face Leeds United. After that, it’s AC Milan in Poland. Let’s see how many minutes they all get.
IPSWICH TOWN 3-0 Rayo Vallecano
- Goals: Davis (x2), Emersonn
- Assists: Emersonn, Walle Egeli, Florentino
Ipswich Town XI: Scherpen (van Oevelen 68′); O’Shea, Diop, Greaves (Furlong 82′), Davis; Florentino (Humphreys HT), Nunez; Fatawu (McAteer 82′), Walle Egeli (Mehmeti 68′), Maeda (Clarke 47′); Emersonn (Akpom 68′)
SCOUT NOTES
- At Portman Road, newbies Ipswich were three up against Conference League finalists Rayo Vallecano by half-time.
- There was a brace for left-back Leif Davis (£4.0m), someone hyped up heading into 2024/25, before disappointing with just one goal and two assists. In the 12th minute, he overlapped centre-forward Emersonn (£5.5m) and fired home. Soon after, he doubled the lead with his right foot.
- Could this tempt Gameweek 1 Bench Boost users into a selection over teammates Issa Diop (£4.0m) and Dara O’Shea (£4.0m)? The duo played all 90 minutes here.
- Giant goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen (£4.5m) looks set to be Gary O’Neil’s number one, though he had a dodgy moment when dwelling on the ball for too long. Luckily, he recovered to stop a tap-in.
- Saturday brought debuts for both him and Florentino Luis (£5.0m), as Sasa Lukic (£5.0m) watched from the stands. Usually a DefCon machine, the Portuguese midfielder floated a lovely cross for Emersonn to confidently head in.
- Another £5.0m midfield option could be Marcelino Nunez, who hit the crossbar at 0-0. He joins O’Shea in playing the most minutes over Ipswich’s latest three outings, though he was only regularly starting for a few middle months of their promotion campaign.
- £4.5m forward Sindre Walle Egeli operated in the ’10’ role, so that’s one to watch as we approach Gameweek 1.
MORE TAKEAWAYS FROM THE WEEKEND’S ACTION
- READ MORE: FPL pre-season (Arsenal + Liverpool) – Tzolis “sharp”, Timber, Saliba + Jacquet injury latest
- READ MORE: FPL pre-season (Aston Villa, Fulham + Palace) – Gomes good, Garcia debut + Sarr lively
- READ MORE: FPL pre-season (Bournemouth + Brentford) – Sangare debut, Thiago nets + Bournemouth injuries
- READ MORE: FPL pre-season (Brighton, Everton + Coventry) – Vuskovic bow, Minteh injury + Ndiaye pen doubts
- READ MORE: FPL pre-season (Chelsea + Forest) – Pedro brace, Chelsea wing-backs + Williams lively
- READ MORE: FPL pre-season (Leeds, Sunderland + Spurs) – Gudmundsson + Mukiele injury latest, ‘OOP’ Hume scores
- READ MORE: FPL pre-season (Newcastle + Hull) – Wissa brace + first look at Jaissle’s Newcastle
