Scout Notes

FPL pre-season: Trossard hits hat-trick from wing-back role

A Leandro Trossard (£6.5m) hat-trick, Bruno Guimaraes (£6.0m) in a deeper role and another eye-catching display from Eberechi Eze (£5.5m) were among the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from the latest batch of pre-season friendlies to get the Scout Notes treatment.

Brighton and Hove Albion, Crystal Palace and Newcastle United were all in action this weekend and we’ve got the goals, assists and line-ups from these matches in our article below.

Reports on the weekend’s other fixtures are linked below, with a review of Sunday’s action to follow.

We’re also keeping tabs on the minutes played in all of these warm-up fixtures, with Premium Members of Fantasy Football Scout able to access this information at the bottom of this article.

FPL points predictions for Gameweek 3 and beyond 3

BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION 5-1 ESPANYOL

Match highlights

  • Goal: Webster, Dunk, Trossard x3
  • Assist: Gross, Trossard, Veltman x2, Lallana

The curious case of Leandro Trossard (£6.5m) at wing-back continued as the Belgian scored a hat-trick from that position against Espanyol on Saturday.

It’s a continuation of some excellent form from the back-end of last season, when Trossard delivered seven attacking returns in six appearances – again, mostly from left wing-back.

Second striker to wing-back is not a positional change that we usually associate with an upturn in form but it does seem to be benefitting Trossard, who is admittedly more Marcos Alonso than Paul Dummett when it comes to attacking license afforded.

“I think he likes that role off the left. It means that he can play centrally from there, and he can obviously come on his right side and score.

“So it looks like he is enjoying his football. He finished off the season really well and we’re excited to see him start it again.” – Graham Potter

The absence of the wantaway Marc Cucurella (£5.0m) saw Adam Webster (£4.5m) return at centre-half, where Cucurella has been spending the bulk of his playing time for Brighton of late.

“Hopefully, Marc [Cucurella] will recover from his calf [issue], it was a problem he had this week. That is how I see it, yes, at the moment [he will be involved in Gameweek 1]. He had a feeling in his calf this week so didn’t feel like it was the right thing to risk him today but we will see for next week.” – Graham Potter

Webster and Lewis Dunk (£4.5m) both scored headed goals to underscore the set-piece threat that Albion pose, particularly when Pascal Gross (£5.5m) is in the side.

Danny Welbeck (£6.5m) looks set to be leading the line for the Seagulls come Gameweek 1, meanwhile, with Neal Maupay (£6.5m) again only a substitute amid talk of a move away. Budget forwards Denis Undav (£5.5m) and Julio Enciso (£5.0m) were also among the names on the bench for this encounter, with the starting XI likely to look very similar against Manchester United this weekend.

Brighton and Hove Albion XI (3-4-2-1): Sanchez, Veltman, Dunk, Webster (van Hecke 72), March, (Lamptey 72), Mac Allister (Alzate 69), Caicedo (Sarmiento 77), Trossard (Maupay 72), Gross (Mitoma 72), Mwepu (Lallana 55), Welbeck (Undav 72).

CRYSTAL PALACE 4-2 MONTPELLIER

Match highlights

  • Goal: Zaha, Edouard x2, Guehi
  • Assist: Eze x2, Ward, Ayew

For what we wrote about Joe Aribo (£5.5m) in our Scout Notes on Southampton’s final pre-season friendly, the same applies to Eberechi Eze (£5.5m).

Crystal Palace have arguably the worst opening run of fixtures in the league, meeting five of the ‘big six’ in the first nine Gameweeks and sitting bottom of our Season Ticker as a result.

FPL managers will probably be giving the Eagles a wide berth for the time being, then, but there’s medium-term hope and expectation around Eze, whose 2021/22 was a bit of a non-starter thanks to a long-term injury, gradual reintegration into the squad and Conor Gallagher‘s (£6.0m) form.

With Gallagher gone and the goalscoring midfield void unfilled by any new arrival, Eze’s game-time prospects should be much better this season.

Two assists arrived in Saturday’s 4-2 win over Montpellier, the second from a corner; having set-piece responsibilities is another string to Eze’s bow.

“It’s about the number of minutes [he plays]. He played a lot of friendly games and is in really good shape. There’s no doubt about his quality. He can create goals, he can score goals, and again on the other side – how can we help the team to defend better?

“I think today you can see he’s really focusing and concentrated on his position out of possession and he’s playing with belief and confidence.

“Conor [Gallagher] is not here. I’m really happy with the way Ebs has been training and what he did in the game. He will bring us something different but something as good as what Conor gave to us. He is a fantastic player who creates chances, scores goals. Things happen with him on the field.” – Patrick Vieira on Eberechi Eze

Wilfried Zaha (£7.0m), provider of eight attacking returns in four pre-season appearances and a scorer on Saturday, is another talent on the longer-term radar, especially given the relative shortage of attractive options in the £6.5m-£7.5m midfield bracket.

Odsonne Edouard (£5.5m) meanwhile staked a pretty good claim for the number nine slot on the opening day, bagging two goals here. As we know from experience last season, however, Vieira likes to keep us guessing up top.

It’s not all gravy ahead of Gameweek 1.

Vieira admitted after full-time that a period of adaption would be required due to the high-pressing Gallagher’s return to Chelsea, while team cohesion wasn’t helped as his squad were split in two for much of the summer; vaccination status, among other things, meaning that Vieira was without an abundance of seniors in Singapore and Australia.

This Montpellier game was the first time the squad had been united in three weeks and the French outfit were poor opposition. Hardly ideal preparation for an Arsenal side with momentum behind them.

Crystal Palace XI (4-3-3): Guaita, Andersen (Richards 79), Mitchell (Benteke 79), Ward (Clyne 60), Guehi , Eze (Ferguson 79), Doucouré (Milivojevic 60), Schlupp (Hughes 46), Edouard (Mateta 66), Zaha (Ebiowei 79), Ayew (Plange 79)

NEWCASTLE UNITED 1-0 ATALANTA
NEWCASTLE UNITED 2-1 ATHLETIC BILBAO

Match highlights v Atalanta
Match highlights v Athletic

While some managers heavily signposted their Gameweek 1 line-ups with their final pre-season friendly teamsheets, Eddie Howe kept us guessing by splitting his squad across two matches on Friday and Saturday.

There was a mix of first-teamers and reserves in both cases, with the preferred centre-half pairing, how the Magpies set up without the injured Jonjo Shelvey (£5.0m) and who joins Callum Wilson (£7.5m) and Allan Saint-Maximin (£6.5m) in the three-man attack still questions to be answered.

The second of those points is important from a Fantasy perspective as it concerns Bruno Guimaraes (£6.0m), the 10th most-owned midfielder in FPL. Deployed in more of a box-to-box role last season, the Brazilian stepped in for Shelvey in the number six slot on Sunday to somewhat dent his goal threat from the engine room. Howe could still move Guimaraes back to his original position by starting Sean Longstaff (£4.5m) as the deep-lying playmaker in Gameweek 1, however.

“We were waiting for some scans results and a couple of opinions on his hamstring injury. It looks like there is some nerve damage. We’re waiting to see the extent of the damage of the hamstring, if there is any at all.” – Eddie Howe on Jonjo Shelvey

Wilson converted expertly on a good weekend for the neglected £7.5m forward crop, with Chris Wood (£6.0m) scoring from the spot in the striker’s absence on Friday.

“It’s been a massively important period for Callum. I think the few games at the back end of last season did him the world of good, but this body of work will hopefully give him a great platform to be robust and withstand the rigours of Premier League football.

“Hopefully, it will also give him the sharpness that he needs to be able to score goals at the very highest level. He took his goal very well today, and that will have done him the world of good.” – Eddie Howe

The reclassified Allan Saint-Maximin (£6.5m) was also on target on Saturday, while the sight of big-money signing Sven Botman (£4.5m) alongside Jamaal Lascelles (£4.5m) – who many thought was fourth in line at centre-half – only confused matters at the rear.

He’s done very well during pre-season. I’d say today was a snapshot of how he’s been – very composed on the ball, an excellent distributor, short and long. I thought he defended very well.

“He was good aerially and good defending balls in behind. I thought it was a very composed display. He’s showing the characteristics of what he’ll bring to the defence.

“Is he ready? Of course he is. But there’s competition for places, and that’s now probably my biggest dilemma from the two games – trying to pick one XI.”
– Eddie Howe on Sven Botman

Newcastle United XI v Atalanta (4-3-3): Pope, Trippier, Schar, Burn, Targett, S Longstaff, Anderson, Almiron, Murphy (M Longstaff 82), Fraser (Bondswell 90), Wood (Stephenson 90)

Newcastle United XI v Athletic (4-3-3): Dubravka, Krafth, Lascelles, Botman, Dummett (Bondswell 70), Bruno (M Longstaff 89), Joelinton, Willock, Ritchie, Saint-Maximin (De Bolle 89), Wilson (Munoz 90)

PRE-SEASON MINUTES TRACKER

Who played the most minutes over the March international break?

913 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Klopp's Kids
    • 10 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    Hipster FC.

    Jose Sa
    Robertson - Doherty - Justin
    Son - De Bruyne - Odegaard - Podence
    Vardy - Darwin - Wilson

    1. Nate(U)dog(ie)
      • 3 Years
      1 year, 8 months ago

      Vardarwilson as a front line certainly rolls off of the tongue

      1. Klopp's Kids
        • 10 Years
        1 year, 8 months ago

        Clearly intentional. And this is 100% my team for sure 😉

    2. ZiZou10
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      1 year, 8 months ago

      Nice to see a different team

  2. Nate(U)dog(ie)
    • 3 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    Chelsea looking at signing a new LB and RB worrying for Chilwell/James prospects? I'd imagine (if the moves happen) Dumfries surely means much more chance of James playing RCB, Chilwell more likely to play LB with Cucurella LCB I imagine, but it does feel like a lot of money to put down on a player as good as Cucurella is at LWB to just to play him in central defence. I'm sure there will be games where Chilwell will be rotated and Cucurella plays there but if that whole backline is fit then I'm guessing the preference would be Silva + Koulibaly and then 3 of Chilwell, Cucurella, James and Dumfries?

    1. Klopp's Kids
      • 10 Years
      1 year, 8 months ago

      I think avoid Chelsea until we have more information. Trippier for 1M less looks good for first two.

    2. stat sifter 888888
      • 3 Years
      1 year, 8 months ago

      Don't forget about Chalaboh as well.

  3. stat sifter 888888
    • 3 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    Ings or Watkins more likely to play and get points?

    1. Big boy Bowen
      • 7 Years
      1 year, 8 months ago

      Watkins

  4. Walter White (WW)
    • 2 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    Ok Conte, I got you.

  5. ZiZou10
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    Is this the most template season set-up so far?

  6. Walter White (WW)
    • 2 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    Jesus 70.2% atm. 😯

  7. Nettsy
    • 1 Year
    1 year, 8 months ago

    rashford

    1. Berkshire Hafaway-Line
      • 3 Years
      1 year, 8 months ago

      hastylandrover

  8. Von Lipwig
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    Ok, hear me out. Salah is the goat... But could Diaz cover 80% of his returns for 5m! less?

    1. ZiZou10
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 11 Years
      1 year, 8 months ago

      I’ve considered Diaz, Mount & Kulu vs Salah, Neto, Rashford

      I think the first 3 edge total points over the season but the Salah captaincy edges it overall

      1. ZiZou10
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        1 year, 8 months ago

        Bearing in mind the Salah trio is £1m more too…

      2. Baps hunter
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 6 Years
        1 year, 8 months ago

        Yes. Captaincy is the issue. Salah hattie or brace will hurt too much. After Afcon and during ramadan it was easy not to have him, but earlier it would have been simply suicidal. Naturally it is possible to try C rotation with likes of KaneSon / KdB or even with TAA, but I don't think that odds for that to work out are good enough.

    2. Ghost of Tomiyasu
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      1 year, 8 months ago

      Salah scored 265 points last season so Diaz would have to score 212 points
      I can't see that, I think he will finish around 150-170 ish

      1. Sad Pablo Arsecobar
        • 7 Years
        1 year, 8 months ago

        My theory is Darwin will eat into Salahs goal points

        1. Ghost of Tomiyasu
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 10 Years
          1 year, 8 months ago

          Hard to say but Darwin will rotate with Firminho and no Mane this year so Salah will still be relied upon to come up with the goods, he could potentially score even more

      2. Joey Jo-Jo Junior Shabadoo
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 3 Years
        1 year, 8 months ago

        265/13x8= 163

        Where are you getting 212 from?

        1. Ghost of Tomiyasu
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 10 Years
          1 year, 8 months ago

          What is 80% of 265?

          Y is 80% of 265

          Equation: Y = P% * X

          Solving our equation for Y
          Y = P% * X
          Y = 80% * 265

          Converting percent to decimal:
          p = 80%/100 = 0.8

          Y = 0.8 * 265
          Y = 212

          1. Joey Jo-Jo Junior Shabadoo
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 3 Years
            1 year, 8 months ago

            Oh 80%. That utterly random number that a poster came up with at random. How useful.

  9. One Man
    • 7 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    Anyone expect Newcastle as the most likely team outside the top 6 to break into Europe this season ? Or have you any other team in mind ?

  10. Baps hunter
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 6 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    Dullest template team possible?!?

    Meslier / Forster
    TAA, Robbo, Cancelo, Zinch / Neco
    Salah, Mount, Martinelli, Neto / Andreas
    Kane, Jesus / Greenwood

    1. Ghost of Tomiyasu
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      1 year, 8 months ago

      i like it 🙂

  11. Joyce1998
    • 8 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    Hows this looking?

    Mendy
    Robbo, Tripp, Dias
    Cout, Diaz, KDB, Odegaard, Bruno
    Darwin, Kane

    4.0, NecoWilliams, Lamptey, 4.5

  12. Defaid Daniel
    • 11 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    Thoughts on sterling?

    1. Ghost of Tomiyasu
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      1 year, 8 months ago

      If you own him get some blood pressure pills

  13. Ghost of Tomiyasu
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 10 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    and a swear jar

  14. Invincibles
    • 10 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    Raya
    TAA Robbo Perisic Cancelo Walker
    Salah Mount Neto
    Kane Jesus

    Perisic out for Martinelli in a 4-4-2?

  15. Joyce1998
    • 8 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    G2G??

    Mendy
    Taa, Walker, Tripp
    Rash, KDB, Baily, Son, Diaz
    Darwin, Jesus

    4.0, Mings, N.Williams ,4.5

  16. fish&chips
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    1 year, 8 months ago

    Does anyone have the LMS league code?

  17. omgdl
    • 2 Years
    1 year, 7 months ago

    Thoughts on this XI?
    Meslier/Raya
    TAA/Cancelo/Jonny/Neco/Vestergaard
    Salah/KDB/Son/Neto/Andreas
    Jesus/Greenwood/Taylor

    Heavy investment on midfield, idk if redistributing the budget could be safer in the long term

  18. Maraudingmane
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 2 Years
    1 year, 7 months ago

    Fill the gaps in midfield up to 12.5 out of Martinelli, Bailey, Neto, Grealish, Sancho, Rashford or others
    Ramsdale Ward
    TAA Cancelo Cash Trippier Neco
    Salah Bowen Andreas ? ?
    Kane Jesus Archer

    1. Snevitz
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 14 Years
      1 year, 7 months ago

      Martinelli and Bailey