Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest were both in pre-season action on Wednesday, as they faced off against Paris Saint-Germain and Bayer Leverkusen, respectively.
Here, we round up the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from these matches.
Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 ASTON VILLA
- Goal: Madjo
- Assist: McGinn
Aston Villa XI: Bizot, Cash, Lindelof, Pau (Mings 79), Maatsen, Kamara (Bogarde 72), J Gomes (Barkley 79), McGinn (Alysson 73), Buendia, Hemmings, Madjo (Abraham 72)
SCOUT NOTES
- PSG recorded a 2-1 win over Aston Villa in Wednesday’s Super Cup, but were pushed all the way by Unai Emery’s side.
- Villa were without several first-team players, including Emiliano Martinez (£5.0m), Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) and Ollie Watkins (£8.0m), who didn’t travel for this match after the World Cup. New arrivals Johan Manzambi (£6.0m) and Alejandro Garnacho (£6.0m) also missed out due to injury and concussion, respectively.
- Martinez, Konsa and Watkins will all return to training soon but won’t feature in Saturday’s final pre-season friendly against Borussia Monchengladbach. It subsequently raises a few doubts about their involvement in Gameweek 1, certainly the outfielders.
“They are joining us after this match. We have our last friendly on Saturday. They are not going to be there but they will start training with us now. We wanted to give them four weeks’ holiday because the season was very demanding. We think it’s better to work with players that are fit.” – Unai Emery on Emiliano Martinez, Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins, via BBC Sport
- Emery subsequently handed starts to youngsters George Hemmings (£4.5m) and the yet-to-be priced-up Brian Madjo.
- And what an impact both players had, particularly Madjo. The 17-year-old forward, who had already netted four goals in pre-season, scored the equaliser in Salzburg, volleying home John McGinn’s (£5.5m) superb delivery into the roof of the net. Prior to that, he’d headed over from three yards and hit the post. A physical threat up top, Madjo ended the match with six shots.
“He played because he was showing us his capacity to work and be demanding. It is not just about scoring goals, it’s about defending and how he has the commitment and discipline tactically. He was doing that. I wanted to play with young players and watch their progression. Brian started scoring goals against Walsall and Real Sociedad. Now the reality is we have shown their capacity, but they have to keep being consistent, demanding and keep performing at the level they were.” – Unai Emery on Brian Madjo, via BBC Sport
“He has been involved in our work last season, but not playing. We tried to get him ready to perform like today. There is still work to do, but he showed that he can be close to us to play.” – Unai Emery on Brian Madjo, via the Birmingham Mail
- Given Watkins’ lack of pre-season, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Madjo gets further minutes against Brighton and Hove Albion next week. Tammy Abraham (£5.5m) is another option for Emery up top, of course.
- Elsewhere, Hemmings and Joao Gomes (£5.5m) both came close to scoring, as Villa racked up 15 shots. It included five big chances (Madjo missed three of them).
- Ian Maatsen (£4.5m) and substitute Alysson (£5.0m) were both lively, while Emiliano Buendia (£6.0m) played in the No 10 role and linked up well with his teammates between the lines.
- Villa complete their preparations for the 2026/27 season with a final pre-season friendly against Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany on Saturday.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST 2-1 Bayer Leverkusen
- Goals: Ndoye, Kalimuendo
- Assists: Gibbs-White, Netz
Nottingham Forest first-half XI: Sels, Diomande, Milenkovic, Murillo, Aina, Schlager, Sangare, Williams, Gibbs-White, Ndoye, Jesus
Nottingham Forest second-half XI: Victor, Abbott, Yates, Cunha, Moreira, McAtee, Dominguez, Netz, Kalimuendo, Hudson-Odoi, Awoniyi
SCOUT NOTES
- Nottingham Forest secured a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen at the City Ground on Wednesday.
- In Oliver Glasner’s first match on home turf, he named a strong starting XI. It included new arrivals Ousmane Diomande (£5.5m) and Xaver Schlager (£5.0m).
- Chris Wood (£6.0m) meanwhile missed out but could feature against Brest on Sunday.
“We don’t take any risks after a really difficult last season. It was a very long injury and he had a very minor muscle injury, but he trained already today, so it was more or less precaution. Let’s see if he can do the sessions on Friday and Saturday without any issues and [then] he will play on Sunday. But Chris Wood is so experienced, so I don’t need to tell him how the Premier League works, he knows that it’s just to keep him fit and that’s why we didn’t take any risk.” – Oliver Glasner on Chris Wood, via the Nottingham Post
- In Wood’s absence, Igor Jesus (£6.0m) continued to lead the line in Glasner’s 3-4-2-1, with Dan Ndoye (£5.5m) and Morgan Gibbs-White (£8.0m) in support. Ndoye and Gibbs-White played well and combined for the opener, before Arnaud Kalimuendo (£5.5m) headed home late on to secure the win.
- Diomande understandably looked a bit off the pace in the first half. However, Schlager impressed and got through plenty of defensive work.
- As for Neco Williams (£5.0m), he played as a left wing-back and was pretty advanced. He also took some corners in the first half.
- Glasner made 11 changes at the break, with Ryan Yates (£4.5m) used in the back three and Taiwo Awoniyi (£5.5m) up front. Neither Jesus nor Awoniyi really put down a marker, however. The Brazilian did put one shot inches over the bar.
- Forest host Brest on Sunday in their final pre-season friendly.
“It was a very good test for us. Murillo got minutes, Callum Hudson-Odoi got minutes and what I was really pleased with was in the last 30 minutes of the second half, we really controlled the game. We created some good opportunities and played well. For me, the best thing I could see was that we wanted to win the game and showed the winning mentality. Kalimuendo scored and he deserved it for working so hard before. Overall it was a very good test for us.” – Oliver Glasner
