We discuss the main Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points from Chelsea v Fulham, Manchester United v Borussia Dortmund, Crystal Palace v Sevilla and PSV Eindhoven v Nottingham Forest in this latest pre-season Scout Notes article.
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CHELSEA 2-0 FULHAM
- Goals: Thiago Silva, Nkunku
- Assists: Chilwell, Chukwuemeka
NKUNKU NETS
Christopher Nkunku (£7.5m) scored his third pre-season goal as Chelsea defeated Fulham 2-0 to win the Premier League Summer Series.
Despite being deployed on the left, the Frenchman was a real threat throughout his hour on the pitch, tapping in after Carney Chukwuemeka’s (£4.5m) shot was saved. If Enzo Fernandez (£5.0m) hadn’t squandered his chance, he would have had an assist too.
Fellow forward Nicolas Jackson (£7.0m) was introduced after the break and also looked lively, although Mauricio Pochettino hasn’t ruled out making further signings in this area of the pitch.
“Today I think we are happy with the performance and they can complement each other really well. Yes, of course, maybe we can add some different profile or different player who can help us, of course we are open. I am so happy with both and we have younger players like Mason [Burstow] today and Broja in the UK recovering from his procedure. We need to analyse now in the next weeks until the transfer window closes. We will take the best decision for the team.
We are working hard to try to create this dynamic that will become natural and to share time together. I think the two help to know each other. It is good that they feel well, that they feel already part of the team and the group and they share a lot of time together. It is important because you need to start the Premier League in a good condition knowing each other and try to fight for each other to create a real time that is prepared to go and face opponents like Liverpool, Man City and different teams like this.” – Mauricio Pochettino on Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson
CHILWELL EXCELLENT
Elsewhere, Ben Chilwell (£5.5m) looked sharp and took the corner which Thiago Silva (£5.0m) nodded in.
He also had a close-range shot saved after a Raheem Sterling (£7.0m) pass and got into some very advanced positions, with Malo Gusto (£4.0m) playing a more conservative role on the right, which turned Pochettino’s back four into a back three when attacking.
Meanwhile, Andrey Santos (£4.5m) started again in midfield alongside Enzo.
As for Fulham’s display, it was worrying, with Marco Silva calling the first half their “worst” of pre-season.
“Our first half was not up to our standards – it wasn’t what we normally do. Not just because we conceded sloppy goals, but the way we started, our attack was not so clear. We lost complete control of the game in the first half. The second half was different and we were much more ourselves on the pitch. Overall, it was not a good day for us.” – Marco Silva
FPL managers were at least given a first look at new signings Calvin Bassey and Raul Jimenez (£5.5m) after the break, with the latter showing some nice touches.
Another encouraging sight was the return to action of Andreas Pereira (£5.5m), who was handed 25 minutes after recovering from a serious injury.
“It was the first 45 minutes for [Bassey] and I told him I didn’t expect brilliant, brilliant things. I wanted him to start simple to get some confidence, and he did. When he gets to know his teammates better, know the connections better, he can show different things, much more on the ball. Off the ball, he’s a strong lad, it’s just a matter of time for him to understand our principles and our ideas on and off the ball.
About Raul, he’s more experienced, you can see in just 45 minutes how he is going to help the team. It was a very good second half from him, he made an impact that I wanted to see in the second half, linking our game, holding the ball, some good movements inside the box as well. I’m sure that if you’re going to provide for him like we normally provide for our strikers, then he is going to make a difference because I believe that he’s a great addition for us.” – Marco Silva on new signings Calvin Bassey and Raul Jimenez
Chelsea XI: Slonina (Bergstrom 61); Gusto (James 45), Thiago Silva (Chalobah 45, Gilchrist 60), Humphreys (Colwill 45), Chilwell (Cucurella 45); Santos (Casedei 46), Enzo (Gallagher 46); Sterling (Maatsen 46), Chukwuemeka (Angelo 47), Nkunku (Hall 61); Burstow (Jackson 46)
Fulham XI: Leno; Tete (Mbabu 66), De Fougerolles (Bassey 45), Diop, Robinson; Reed (Stansfield 81), Lukic (Harris 81); Wilson (Dibley-Dias 81), Cairney (De Cordova-Reid 18), Willian (Pereira 66); Vinicius (Jimenez 45)
MAN UTD 2-3 DORTMUND
- Goals: Dalot, Antony
- Assists: van de Beek x2
UNITED SLOPPY
Diogo Dalot (£5.0m) and Antony (£7.0m) were both on the scoresheet as Man Utd were beaten 3-2 by Dortmund in Las Vegas.
Erik ten Hag made 11 changes to the team after the defeat to Real Madrid last week, largely playing a backup defence, before ringing the changes after an hour, introducing the likes of Marcus Rashford (£9.0m) and Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m).
The former almost equalised in the final minutes, although the Dutchman was far from happy with his substitute’s impact.
“Two parts – first hour [was] good, well performing, playing as a team, lot of dynamic, good pressing, so it was really enjoyable to see. That is what I wanted to say to the team at half-time and then all of a sudden they gave two goals away and they really were giveaways. So that was already annoying but the last half an hour was bad, was a poor performance. Didn’t follow the rules at all, not in pressing, not in building up and not in attacking, so there were 11 individuals finally on the pitch and that wasn’t good at all.” – Erik ten Hag
United were in control for most of the first half but two defensive errors in as many minutes gifted the German giants the lead. As a result, Andre Onana (£5.0m) was sent on at half-time.
ADVANCED DALOT
As for Dalot, this was his first start of pre-season and he certainly impressed, regularly taking up positions in midfield.
It was his superb effort that gave his side a deserved lead, although it remains to be seen if he starts against Wolverhampton Wanderers in Gameweek 1.
The fact Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.5m) was really poor at both ends of the pitch should help his prospects, mind.
Meanwhile, Raphael Varane (£5.0m) was left out of the squad for precautionary reasons.
Above: Diogo Dalot’s touch heatmap v Borussia Dortmund
Manchester United XI: Heaton (Onana 46); Dalot (Casemiro 61), Lindelof (Martinez 61), Maguire (Evans 61), Williams (Shaw 61); Eriksen (Wan-Bissaka 61), McTominay (Mount 61); Pellistri (Rashford 61), van de Beek (Fernandes 61), Forson (Antony 38); Sancho (Hugill 77)
CRYSTAL PALACE 1-1 SEVILLA
- Goals: Eze
- Assists: Doucoure
EZE A “CONSTANT THORN”
Eberechi Eze (£6.5m) produced another eye-catching display on Sunday, as Crystal Palace drew 1-1 with UEFA Europa League winners Sevilla, before later losing to the Spaniards in a penalty shoot-out.
The playmaker netted an excellent equaliser, gliding past several Sevilla defenders, and is now up to six attacking returns in pre-season. Unsurprisingly, Roy Hodgson was full of praise for his star man after the final whistle.
“I thought he [Eze] interpreted the position that we asked him to play very well. He was a constant thorn [in Sevilla’s side] and their only means of preventing him from running riot was to foul him. I thought there were some bad fouls committed against him, but even more credit to him for having the courage, despite being fouled in that way so often, to take the ball through defenders and score the goal he scored. He was a major plus today.” – Roy Hodgson on Eberechi Eze
The Eagles looked particularly sharp on the counter-attack and will take confidence from a decent display. Interestingly, Hodgson didn’t make a single substitution during the match, so expect to see a similar line-up in Gameweek 1, suggesting £4.5m midfielder Naouirou Ahamada might have to settle for minutes off the bench.
“I’m very pleased indeed. I’m pleased also we could get those players through 90 minutes. A lot of players who were in the team today are ones we are looking forward to seeing as our regulars through the season, but quite a few of them haven’t played very many minutes because we’ve been rotating and giving so many of the squad a game, not least some of the younger players who have come back from loans.
This was a time when we thought: ‘we’re playing a top-quality opponent – it would be good if we can get the team on the field that we think is our best team at this moment in time’, then to push them through as many minutes as we could. For them to play the 90 minutes was an extra bonus, and to dominate the game against Sevilla like we did was also a bonus. It was just the final goal or final finish that stopped us winning the game.” – Roy Hodgson
Crystal Palace XI: Johnstone; Ward, Andersen, Guehi, Clyne, Lerma, Doucoure, Eze, Schlupp, Edouard, Ayew
PSV 1-0 NOTT’M FOREST
GIBBS-WHITE RETURNS
Morgan Gibbs-White (£6.0m) returned to action for the first time since winning the European Championships with England U21s, as Nott’m Forest were beaten 1-0 in their fifth pre-season friendly.
Steve Cooper played a pretty strong team, opting to play with a back three, but the likes of Serge Aurier (£4.5m) and Chris Wood (£5.0m) looked rusty, with Forest largely struggling to create.
As for Gibbs-White, he forced a good save from PSV’s ‘keeper and lasted an hour before being replaced by new signing Anthony Elanga (£5.0m). Ola Aina (£4.5m) was also handed his debut.
“Some players were making their first start, Morgan [Gibbs-White], Woody, Ola [Aina] played his first game for the club as well. It’s still a good group, but certainly a sort of mix-and-match group in terms of player status and with all of that in mind, I thought we were definitely better than what we showed certainly against Leeds. I thought some of our build-up play was good. I thought we got in positions we didn’t capitalise on and we didn’t make the most of the good positions.
It was a really poor goal that we conceded with, two clear headers from the set piece, and then the defenders there on the end of the box, but we’ve given a team that’s going to play in Europe in the next couple of weeks not much, really. Defensively, I thought we were fairly sound on the whole and sticking to our pressing strategy so definitely positives to take from the game but I’ll always want more and we need more for sure.” – Steve Cooper
Nottingham Forest XI: Horvath; Worrall, Boly, McKenna; Aurier (Powell 75), Yates (Hwang 62), Mangala (Kouyate 62), Danilo, Aina; Gibbs-White (Elanga 62); Wood (Freuler 62)
