We’ve almost reached the final stretch of pre-season matches, as eight Premier League sides play on Wednesday night – including Aston Villa in UEFA’s Super Cup.
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So there’ll be several things of interest to millions of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.
WEDNESDAY’S PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES
| KICK-OFF (BST) | MATCH | LOCATION |
|---|---|---|
| 17:15 | EVERTON v NEWCASTLE UNITED | Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh |
| 19:30 | ARSENAL v Como | Emirates Stadium, London |
| 19:30 | MANCHESTER UNITED v LEEDS UNITED | Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland |
| 19:45 | NOTTINGHAM FOREST v Bayer Leverkusen | City Ground, Nottingham |
| 20:00 | Malaga v FULHAM | Estadio La Rosaleda, Malaga |
| 20:00 | Paris Saint-Germain v ASTON VILLA (UEFA Super Cup) | Red Bull Arena, Salzburg |
Which players will return?
A bunch of Arsenal players are yet to get pre-season minutes after going deep in the World Cup: Bukayo Saka (£9.5m), Declan Rice (£7.5m), Noni Madueke (£6.5m), David Raya (£6.0m), Mikel Merino (£6.0m), Martin Zubimendi (£5.5m) and Eberechi Eze (£6.5m). Maybe they’ll get some game-time versus Como.
Elsewhere, a shin problem has kept Benjamin Sesko (£7.0m) on the sidelines, as Matheus Cunha (£8.0m) and Senne Lammens (£5.0m) recovered from illness. But the Manchester United trio have travelled to Dublin’s Croke Park.
Neither Jordan Pickford (£5.5m) nor Dan Burn (£5.0m) will play in Edinburgh, but there’s positive news for Aston Villa.
Emiliano Martinez (£5.0m), Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) and Ollie Watkins (£8.0m) are in their Super Cup squad, as are previous absentees John McGinn (£5.5m) and Alejandro Garnacho (£6.0m).
Will we see debuts?
Meanwhile, Bruno Guimaraes (£7.0m), Brennan Johnson (£6.0m), Shea Charles (£5.0m) and James Trafford (£5.0m) could make their club debuts tonight, though we know that Christian Norgaard (£5.0m) won’t. That will frustrate FPL managers who are eyeing up the Dane for a Gameweek 1 Bench Boost.
As for the new Leeds goalkeeper, he’s only just begun training after World Cup duty.
Arsenal clues for Gameweek 1
For the Gunners, the interest isn’t just about their international returnees. Hopefully we get more clues about Mikel Arteta’s opening night XI from both this and Sunday’s Community Shield.
Being at home to newly promoted Coventry City looks great, but their usually watertight backline has conceded six goals across their last two friendlies.
Perhaps new left-winger Christos Tzolis (£6.5m) can nail down a starting spot. He’s already delivered one goal and four assists, so he’d be an interesting short-term FPL punt.
Everton’s penalty situation
In the Toffees’ recent defeat to Stuttgart, expected penalty taker Iliman Ndiaye (£6.0m) was on the pitch as Thierno Barry (£5.5m) scored from the spot.
Reports now say that the 15.1%-owned midfielder is staying at Everton, rather than moving to Al-Hilal. But a lack of penalties will hugely dent his Fantasy appeal. Let’s see if they get one here.
Is Mbeumo an out-of-position forward?
Due to Sesko’s absence, Bryan Mbeumo (£8.0m) has been used as Man United’s centre-forward, netting their latest three goals.
If that continues against Leeds, he’ll be hard to resist in our Gameweek 1 squads.
The £6.0m forward race heats up
And finally, there’s a very competitive price bracket up front.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m) has three goals in two pre-season friendlies, Igor Jesus (£6.0m) boasts four summer strikes, and Yoane Wissa (£6.0m) bagged a brace in Valencia.
Last year’s £55 million signing from Brentford had a miserable first season on Tyneside, but might establish himself as Matthias Jaissle’s main forward, ahead of Nick Woltemade (£6.0m) and William Osula (£6.0m).
