The latest van Dijk and Gomez injury news as Toney opens pre-season account

Four Premier League teams were in pre-season friendly action on Tuesday and we’ll have all the relevant talking points for Fantasy managers in our Scout Notes round-up below.

WACKER INNSBRUCK 1-1 LIVERPOOL
STUTTGART 1-1 LIVERPOOL

• Goals: Divock Origi (£5.0m) pen | Sadio Mane (£12.0m)
• Assists: Owen Beck | Kostas Tsimikas (£4.0m)

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS V WACKER
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS V STUTTGART

Mohamed Salah (£12.5m), Sadio Mane (£12.0m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m) were all involved as Liverpool’s pre-season campaign got underway in Austria.

Jurgen Klopp’s side contested two 30-minute friendlies against Wacker Innsbruck and Stuttgart in Salzburg, with a different starting XI named in each.

Salah and Mane were involved in the second match, forming a front three with ‘false nine’ Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (£6.0m) in the absence of Diogo Jota (£7.5m) and Roberto Firmino (£9.0m).

Those two unavailable players have been representing their respective countries at the European Championship and Copa America, so have been handed a belated pre-season break.

Salah wasted a clear opening against the Bundesliga side and went on to see Mane grab the Reds’ equaliser, with the Senegal international tapping home from point-blank range after a Kostas Tsimikas (£4.0m) cut-back.

Divock Origi (£5.0m) scored from the spot in the opening fixture.

New signing Ibrahima Konate (£5.5m) made his debut against Stuttgart, with the fit-again Joel Matip (£5.0m) involved in the draw with Wacker.

And Klopp’s options at centre-half may soon be boosted by the return of Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m) and Joe Gomez (£5.0m), even if neither player is expected to play a part in the Merseyside club’s next friendly against Mainz on Friday.

The Liverpool boss said of the pair:

It would be a surprise [if they featured v Mainz], to me as well. They have looked really good in training and yesterday was the first day where they did very complex things, usually it is either offensive or defensive and stuff like this. We have to get there, step by step, but I don’t expect them for Friday.

Liverpool XI v Wacker Innsbruck: Karius, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, B. Davies, Beck, Clarkson, Morton, Cain, Gordon, Origi, Minamino.

Liverpool XI v Stuttgart: Adrian, Bradley, Konate, R. Williams, Tsimikas, Milner, Keita, Elliott, Mane, Salah, Oxlade-Chamberlain.

BOREHAM WOOD 0-2 BRENTFORD

• Goals: Ivan Toney (£6.5m), Tariqe Fosu (£5.5m)
• Assists: Sergi Canos (£5.5m), Dominic Thompson

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

Ivan Toney (£6.5m) opened his pre-season account with a superb curling strike at non-league Boreham Wood on Tuesday.

FPL’s most-owned forward played an hour of the Bees’ latest warm-up match, collecting a Sergi Canos (£5.5m) pass to put the visitors ahead midway through the first half.

All three of Brentford’s starting attacking trio were to bank attacking returns, with Tariqe Fosu (£5.5m) then doubling his side’s lead after the interval when converting a cross from unpriced full-back Dominic Thompson.

The much-hyped Bryan Mbeumo (£5.5m) wasn’t involved for unknown reasons.

There was some confusion ahead of kick-off, with David Raya (£4.5m) initially named in the starting XI but understudy Patrick Gunnarsson (£4.0m) taking to the field.

Any injury concerns surrounding Raya were allayed when the Spaniard was introduced on the hour-mark, however.

Brentford XI: Gunnarsson (Raya 61), Roerslev (Stevens 61), Goode (Russell 61), Pinnock (Racic 61), Thompson (Gordon 61), Ghoddos (Gilbert 61), Baptiste (Oksanen 61), Haygarth, Fosu (Brook 61), Toney (Dervişoğlu 61), Canós (Valencia 61).

Burnley 2-1 Morecambe
Burnley 4-0 Salford City

• Goals: Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£5.5m), Ashley Barnes (£5.5m) | Josh Brownhill (£4.5m) x2, Jay Rodriguez (£5.5m) x2

Sean Dyche split his squad across two training-ground friendlies on Tuesday, with the bulk of his first-team players getting minutes.

Chris Wood (£7.0m) wasn’t involved and likely won’t feature in any of Burnley’s warm-up games as he is representing New Zealand at the Olympic Games, while Matej Vydra (£5.5m) is on a post-European Championship break and was also missing from the behind-closed-doors matches against Morecambe and Salford City.

Nick Pope (£5.5m) is said to be back in training after a knee injury, meanwhile, but wasn’t fit enough for inclusion.

Other than that, there were familiar faces and even more familiar tactics on show at Barnfield Training Centre.

Dyche reportedly went with his usual 4-4-2 set-up in both games, with £5.5m-rated FPL forwards Jay Rodriguez and Ashley Barnes on target in Vydra and Wood’s absences.

Budget FPL midfielder Josh Brownhill (£4.5m) matched Rodriguez in hitting a brace, with winger Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£5.5m) also on the scoresheet.

With cameras not allowed in, game highlights and official assist information were not provided.

Burnley XI v Salford: Norris (Hennessey 65), Bardsley, Collins (Bedeau n/a), Mee, Taylor, Thompson, Brownhill, Benson, McNeil, Rodriguez, Harker.

Burnley XI v Morecambe: Peacock-Farrell, Lowton, Tarkowski, Thomas, Pieters, Glennon (Tucker n/a), Westwood, Cork, Gudmundsson, Barnes, Richardson.

NORWICH CITY 1-0 LINCOLN CITY

• GOAL: Pierre Lees-Melou (£5.0m)

There was another training ground friendly involving a Premier League club elsewhere on Tuesday.

Norwich City were in action against Lincoln City, with a late goal from new signing Pierre Lees-Melou (£5.0m) handing the Canaries the win.

The match report from the official Norwich website implied that coach Daniel Farke had reverted to his tried-and-tested 4-2-3-1 after a dalliance with a wing-back system at King’s Lynn.

In the continued absence of the injured Grant Hanley (£4.5m) and Ben Gibson (£4.5m), there was another start at centre-half for budget FPL defender Andrew Omobamidele (£4.0m).

Any hopes of him lining up in Gameweek 1 may be dashed, however, with Farke confirming that his regular centre-half pairing could soon return to training:

Yes, it’s a bit disturbing that not all of the players are available. I hope pretty soon that our players who are now doing rehab like Ben Gibson, Grant Hanley, Kenny McLean or Sam Byram will join us.

Teemu Pukki and Tim Krul can hopefully join us soon [after international duty] and be available for the games, the same with Onel Hernandez.

Farke added on match-winner Lees-Melou, an attacking midfielder who brings only a modest goalscoring record with him to East Anglia:

Even in his first minutes, you could see his experience and his quality as a player who has played many games on the top level with top class teammates for a good club in a good league.

It was a perfect situation that he finished. We know he’s good from long range and those shots can decide a game. That was one of the reasons we were so keen to sign him. It’s good to have him and that he’s available to play.

Norwich City XI: McGovern (Gunn 45), Aarons, Zimmermann, Omobamidele, Płacheta (Mumba 45), Rupp (Gilmour 45), Sørensen, Adshead (Dowell 56), Cantwell (Lees-Melou 50), Rashica (Nizet 75), Idah (Hugill 45).