We dissect more midweek pre-season friendlies from a Fantasy Premier League (FPL) perspective.
Everton‘s win over Newcastle United and Arsenal‘s draw with Como are our focus here.
FPL 2026/27 Pre-season Minutes, Goals + Assists Tracker
ARSENAL 1-1 Como
- Goal: Lewis-Skelly
- Assist: Martinelli
Arsenal XI: Kepa (Raya 45), Julienne (White 60), Gabriel (Mosquera 45), Salmon (Ogunnaike 87), Hincapie (Calafiori 61), Eze (Vieira 32) (Madueke 61), Nwaneri (Guimaraes 45), Lewis-Skelly (Merino 61), Dowman (Odegaard 45), Jesus (Gyokeres 32) (Havertz 62), Martinelli (Tzolis 61).
SCOUT NOTES
- This was pretty much a reserve XI from Mikel Arteta. Gabriel Magalhaes (£8.0m) was the only starter who you’d be totally confident would line up in Gameweek 1. The team for Sunday’s Community Shield against Manchester City will surely provide us with more of a steer ahead of the visit of Coventry in the Premier League 2026/27 curtain-raiser.
“It was a bit tricky today because obviously we play a final on Sunday, so to manage the minutes of the players and not expose them too much after playing three days ago, it wasn’t easy.” – Mikel Arteta
- This was our first sighting of Eberechi Eze (£6.5m), Noni Madueke (£6.5m), Mikel Merino (£6.0m) and David Raya (£6.0m) since the World Cup. Arteta gave Eze, Madueke and Merino half an hour each, with Raya playing the second 45 minutes. Bukayo Saka (£9.5m), Declan Rice (£7.5m) and Martin Zubimendi (£5.5m), however, didn’t feature.
“They’ve been training on their own. Yesterday was our first day back with all the players from internationals. They were really pushing to play some minutes today.
“I think they wanted to have a certain feeling before the final, so we allowed them to do so and everything looked good.” – Mikel Arteta on his returning Spain and England internationals
- Also making his first appearance in Arsenal red was big-money signing Bruno Guimaraes (£7.0m). Emerging at half-time, he sat deep, first alongside Myles Lewis-Skelly (£5.5m) and then anchoring the midfield when Martin Odegaard (£6.5m) and Merino came on. It was mostly neat-and-tidy stuff – collect the ball from the centre-half, distribute – but there were glimpses of his vision. An eye-of-the-needle pass nearly found Lewis-Skelly for what surely would have been a goal, while a lofted ball over the top resulted in Kai Havertz (£7.5m) finding the net, but the German was offside. He did a good bit of covering near the end of the game, too, when Como were close to a winner. There was nothing much to excite FPL managers – no shots, no key passes, no corners, a decent-but-just-short five DefCons in 45 minutes – but we’ll need to see more of him before fully making a judgement on his Fantasy worth.
“We’ll have to see. He’s only had three training sessions, but he looked good. He was really pushing to play some minutes today, get his debut and get the feeling of playing in front of our supporters immediately. He’s a player that will make us better, without a doubt.” – Mikel Arteta on whether Bruno Guimaraes will start in Sunday’s Community Shield
- Arsenal commanded most of the ball (55%), had almost three times as many shots (14-5) and gobbled up all of the Opta-defined ‘big chances’ (5-0). The scoreline may betray that another pre-season Gunners clean sheet was busted but the hosts had a second-string backline out when Como levelled, just before half-time. Cristhian Mosquera (£5.5m) came on at the break, and likely starts the Community Shield on Sunday, but it’s fair to say that he hasn’t looked entirely convincing in pre-season, and the links to other right-sided centre-backs just won’t go away.
- Eze looked quite sharp on his (brief!) first pre-season appearance. He whistled a free-kick narrowly over and set up Gabriel Jesus (£6.0m) for a shot that hit the woodwork, although the flag had gone up anyway. Arsenal’s pressing was good, with Lewis-Skelly opening the scoring after some telling pressure on the Como ‘keeper.
- Set pieces, surprise, surprise, were the main source of danger. Mosquera and Marli Salmon had good chances from corners, while Gabriel Magalhaes‘ (£8.0m) flicked, goalbound header was blocked by a teammate. Here’s who was on corners for the Gunners, courtesy of Fotmob:
EVERTON 3-1 NEWCASTLE UNITED
- Goals: Barnes | Barry, Ndiaye pen, George
- Assist: J Murphy | Armstrong x2, Dewsbury-Hall
Everton XI: Travers, Patterson (Rohl 53), Tarkovski, Keane (O’Brien 82), Mykolenko (Aznou 77), Hackney (Foster 82), Armstrong, Ndiaye (Dibling 64), Dewsbury-Hall (Alacaraz 64), George, Barry (Beto 64).
Newcastle United first-half XI: Hornicek, Shahar, Thiaw, Botman, Hall, Bamba, Joelinton, Toure, Elanga, Wissa, Osula.
Newcastle United second-half XI: Hornicek, M Miley, Charlton, Johnson, Pivas, Steur, Ramsey, J Murphy, Willock, Barnes, Woltemade.
EVERTON SCOUT NOTES
- The absences of Jordan Pickford (£5.5m) and James Garner (£6.0m) were expected; the former had a three-week, post-World Cup break, while the latter is battling to be fit for Gameweek 1. We didn’t anticipate the Jarrad Branthwaite (£5.5m) no-show, however. There’s no injury, at least, just more minute management after last season’s hamstring issues.
“Jarrad Branthwaite is not part of Everton’s matchday squad for this evening’s pre-season friendly against Newcastle United in Edinburgh as part of his planned reintegration programme following the hamstring injury he sustained towards the end of last season.
“The centre-back captained the Blues and played 80 minutes at Stuttgart on Saturday, having also started in friendlies against Bolton Wanderers and Hamburg this summer.
“Branthwaite will continue full training at Finch Farm tomorrow ahead of being involved in the Blues’ final warm-up match with French side LOSC Lille at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday.” – Everton injury update
- There was no sign of Christian Norgaard (£5.0m), either, raising question marks over his readiness for Gameweek 1.
- After a slow-ish start to the game, Everton gradually wrested control. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£6.5m) and Iliman Ndiaye (£6.0m) picked up good positions in ‘big chance’ territory to force fine saves from Lukas Hornicek (£5.0m), opportunities that came on either side of Thierno Barry‘s (£5.5m) 27th-minute opener. While that was the budget forward’s only shot of the game, he also teed up that excellent chance for Ndiaye and looks to be playing with a bit of a swagger in pre-season.
“My last season, I don’t think I played good. So now, it’s like a revenge. I want to show everybody who I am. I’m very excited to start again against Crystal Palace. I dream about this game.
“After one season here, now I know a little bit more the Premier League – how we need to play, how I need to use my body. I have trained a lot this summer for that.
“I trained a lot during this summer, I trained also my mindset, everything for to come back and to do a good season.” – Thierno Barry
- Barry’s spot-kick on Saturday raised eyebrows, as normal taker Ndiaye was on the field. Regular service resumed on Wednesday, however, with the Senegalese winger back on penalty-taking duties after Dewsbury-Hall was contentiously adjudged to have been felled.
- Ndiaye put up some decent DefCon numbers, too, and was on his way to 12 before his substitution around the hour mark:
| Defcons | Mins | |
|---|---|---|
| Vitaliy Mykolenko | 9 | 77 |
| Sean Steur | 9 | 45 |
| Iliman Ndiaye | 8 | 64 |
| Michael Keane | 7 | 82 |
| Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall | 7 | 64 |
- Tyrique George (£5.5m) was lively down the left, with Ndiaye on the opposite flank, and his promising afternoon culminated in an excellent third for the Toffees.
- An ultimately comfortable and deserved win for Everton, then, but the non-penalty xG (1.39-1.29) wasn’t a million miles apart, bearing in mind the soft nature of David Moyes’ side’s penalty.
NEWCASTLE UNITED SCOUT NOTES
- Lewis Hall (£5.0m) made a reappearance after missing out at the weekend with a minor issue, and while Dan Burn (£5.0m) didn’t feature, boss Matthias Jaissle confirmed that he’s “back” in training after his World Cup exploits. Fabian Schar (£5.0m), absent since the end of July, should return this weekend.
“He’s on the way back now. Hopefully in the next few days, he will be included in the team training, and then we need to see if he gets some minutes already in the weekend.” – Matthias Jaissle on Fabian Schar
- As for the only other two Magpies in the treatment room, a bit of confusion. Tino Livramento (£5.0m) and Lewis Miley (£5.5m), two options at right-back, haven’t featured all summer. Jaissle was asked about the pair after the game but may have only heard one of the names, as his pronoun usage below suggests:
“A bit of the same. I would say, like with Fabian, also here we’re hoping that in the next days he can be in the team sessions integrated and hopefully also he will get some minutes.” – Matthias Jaissle talking about Tino Livramento and/or Lewis Miley
- Newcastle made a promising start to this contest, dominating the opening quarter of the match. Bazoumana Traore (£6.0m) was lively down the left, Anthony Elanga (£6.0m) forced a good stop from Mark Travers (£5.0m), and Yoane Wissa (£6.0m) had three presentable chances in the first 30 minutes – one saved, one off-target and one over. Wissa was interestingly operating as more of a ’10’ here, behind Will Osula (£6.0m).
“It was just a friendly match where we were bringing a different couple up in front together. And again, in the first 15-20 minutes, it looked really, really good. But it’s just a friendly match. So, we have still two more [friendlies] to make that decision before I need to decide who’s playing against Liverpool.” – Matthias Jaissle on playing Will Osula and Yoane Wissa up top
- Alas, it couldn’t last as Everton ran away with the game. Jacob Murphy (£6.0m) was the sole bright spark in the second half, assisting Harvey Barnes’ (£6.0m) consolation. While there are flickers of promise in attack, the defence looks more than a bit wobbly, not helped by a shortage of fit right-backs. Sven Botman‘s (£5.0m) pre-season performances have been iffy, too.
- Jaissle threw on the kids and a handful of reserves at half-time, with his post-match comments below a bit concerning regarding the squad’s fitness:
“Obviously, you would love to play over 90 minutes, that intensity what belongs actually to Newcastle. At that stage of the pre-season, it seems to be not possible.” – Matthias Jaissle
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