It’s final audition time for most Fantasy Premier League (FPL) players this weekend as the last round of pre-season friendlies take place.
Brighton and Hove Albion are a bit of an exception, however, in that we’ll get to see them again – in a UEFA Conference League play-off – before Friday’s Gameweek 1 deadline.
In the meantime, we’ll review Saturday’s win over Bologna here.
FPL 2026/27 Pre-season Minutes, Goals + Assists Tracker
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION 1-0 Bologna
- Goal: Hinshelwood
- Assist: Wieffer
Brighton and Hove Albion XI: Verbruggen, Wieffer (Costinha 77), Boscagli (Dunk 65), Vuskovic (Svoboda 65), Kadioglu (Igor 77), Ayari, Gross, Gomez (Yohanna 65), Hinshelwood (Yalcouye 65), De Cuyper (Osman 65), Georginio (Kostoulas 73).
SCOUT NOTES
- On the eve of this match, reports suggested Yankuba Minteh (£6.0m) would be out for 2-3 months with a leg injury. And Fabian Hurzeler confirmed the news (if not the timeline) after full-time, also bringing us the latest on Carlos Baleba (£5.0m), Pascal Struijk (£5.0m) – who is yet to kick a ball in pre-season – and the ill Matt O’Riley (£5.5m).
“[Minteh] will miss for a longer period. That is definitely a blow for us because he is a key player.
“Besides that, we don’t have that many injury concerns. Pascal Struijk is coming back, Matt O’Riley is coming back, Carlos [Baleba] is getting closer.” – Fabian Hurzeler
- As expected, Maxim De Cuyper (£4.5m) came in for Minteh on the left wing. An ‘out of position’ (OOP) defender tends to get the pulses racing in FPL circles and the Belgian was swiftly in the thick of things, having two shots in the opening 15 minutes. He was also on a share of corners with Pascal Gross (£5.5m). In truth, the player behind De Cuyper, left-back Ferdi Kadioglu (£4.5m), got forward almost as much. Twice, De Cuyper played in Kadioglu on the underlap, with the Turkish international nearly squeezing in a shot at the near post. Kadioglu also had a huge chance in the second half, hitting the post from six yards out.
- De Cuyper for Minteh was Hurzeler’s only alteration from last weekend’s friendly with Roma. This line-up is looking very ‘Gameweek 1 starting XI’, then, although there is the looming threat of Lewis Dunk (£4.5m), who could yet displace one of the two centre-halves. He didn’t feature in pre-season until August 8, so he may be being phased in, coming off the bench to get more fitness-boosting minutes here. As for Luka Vuskovic (£5.0m), Fotmob say that he hit the Defcon threshold in just 65 minutes:
- As for another popular budget asset playing out wide, Diego Gomez (£5.0m) had a quiet opening half. After the break, however, he could have had an assist on three occasions. His pull-backs from the byline created huge chances for Georginio Rutter (£5.5m), Kadioglu and Jack Hinselwood (£6.0m), with two skied and the other hitting the woodwork. There were some reports that the Paraguayan limped down the tunnel after his withdrawal but we’ve not seen any reputable outlets suggest this, nor did Hurzeler mention anything when discussing injuries after the game. We’ll get a pre-match presser from the Brighton boss on Wednesday anyway, should there be anything in it.
- Hinshelwood was the match-winner. The midfielder delivered six returns in his last 12 appearances in 2025/26, nailing down the ’10’ role. And he was again Brighton’s biggest goal threat here, with the line-leading Rutter often drifting wide or dropping deep. Hinshelwood was on hand from close range to prod in Mats Wieffer‘s (£5.0m) errant shot, and there were two other gilt-edged opportunities besides that. One he failed to get adequate contact on, the other he ballooned. Hinshelwood finished on a match-best five shots.
“Jack is always there. He’s a big danger for the opponent because he is so active. He is very present in the opponents’ box and that’s why he creates these chances. He should have scored more goals.” – Fabian Hurzeler on Jack Hinshelwood
- Gross doesn’t get to enjoy such attacking abandon much, although he did in the final quarter when Hinshelwood went off. The veteran German, moving into a more advanced role, nearly poked in a Brighton second late on. Gross could, of course, be adding penalties to his other set-piece duties, and he ended up with a game-high four chances created here.
- Albion were rarely troubled but Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m) did have to make good saves on two occasions when Bologna carved out a big chance.
