Here’s the first part of our pre-season catch up for the midweek games last week. We’ll look at the lineups and what that could mean for GW1. We’ll also look to identify those players undervalued for their position in their team as well as the outright bargains. We’ll tell you who’s in form and give our estimate of the potential GW1 lineups. The teams covered in part 1 are Villa, Burnley, Chelsea, Palace, Liverpool, Man City, Man Utd. We also cover Hulls Europa League qualifying tie.
fantasy premier league preseason catch up – midweek July 28- August 1st games
Aston Villa 1 Chesterfield 3
Aston Villa: Guzan, Lowton (Bacuna, 46 mins), Herd (Okore, 46 mins), Donacien, Bennett (Stevens, 46 mins), Gardner (El Ahmadi, 46 mins), Johnson, Carruthers, Burke (Grealish, 46 mins), Tonev (N’Zogbia, 46 mins) Robinson.
Goal: Grealish
A complete waste of time game with most players jet lagged from the American tour. I was tempted to see how many were even registered on FPL but it didn’t seem worth it. Guzan was back but still no sign of Vlaar.
Form players in preseason: Bent, Weiman
Value players: Defence nothing, all £4.5m so go for Vlaar if fit. Bent £5.0m for 3-5-2
Potential GW1 lineup: Guzan – Bacuna/Hutton, Baker/Clark/Herd/Senderos, Vlaar – Westwood, Delph, Bacuna/ElAhamadi – Weiman, Bent, Agbonlahor
Preston 2 Burnley 1
Burnley: Matt Gilks, Keiran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, Dean Marne, Danny Ings, David Jones, Matt Taylor (sub: Ross Wallace, 61min), Lukas Jutkiewicz (Marvin Sordell, 65), Scott Arfield.
Goal: Jutkiewicz
Now it looks like were getting some clarity on Burnley with this line up. Heaton, Kightly and Reid have injury issues. 3 goals in 3 games from new signing Jutkiewicz.
Form Players in preseason: Jutkieicz 3 goals
Value players emerging: Value everywhere. In defence Duff at £4.0m is looking a good bet. Marney and Jones look like the £4.5m fillers in midfield with Arfield and Taylor at £5.0m if you want more attacking potential. Jutliewicz at £5.0m looks an option for those playing 3-5-2
Potential GW1 lineup: Heaton/Gilks – Trippier, Mee, Duff, Shackell – Kightly/Taylor, Arfield, Jones, Marney – Ings, Jutkiewicz
Vitesse 1 Chelsea 3
Chelsea: Cech (Beeney, 80); Azpilicueta, Cahill (Zouma, 78), Ivanovic (Chalobah, 80), Luis; Van Ginkel (Romeu, 66), Matic (Boga, 78); Salah (Ake, 71), Fabregas (Baker, 75), Torres; Costa (Solanke, 78).
Goals: Salah, Fabregas, Matic
A load of interesting things come out of this game where Drogba, Mikel, Hazard, Schurrle, Willian and Courtois were still in WC rest mode and not involved. Ivanovic played CB and Azpilicueta RB. Luis is looking more and more settled at LB. Fabregas played further forward and scored an excellent free kick. Costa was fantastic with 2 assists and excellent decision making all round.
Form players in preseason: Fabregas, Costa, Terry
Value players: Luis £6.0m in defence looking more and more solid. Salah £5.5m and Schurrle £7.5m are the value in midfield but were no closer to working out who the 3 attacking midfielders will be.
Potential GW1 lineup: Courtois/Cech – Azpilicueta/Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry – Matic, Fabregas – Hazard, 2 of Oscar/Schurrle/Salah/Willian – Costa
Richmond 0 Palace 3
Crystal Palace: Hennessey, Mariappa, Ramage, Murray, Jerome Williams, Puncheon (Gray 72), Jedinak (O’Keefe 65), Ledley (Bannan 65), Bolasie (Thomas 68), Chamakh (Boateng 72), Gayle (Guedioura 68)
Goals: Ramage, Murray, Chamakh
No this is not a Pulis side with 3 forwards, Murray was playing CB due to some knocks. Disregard the defence but the rest of the side starting to look like the first team. Again it’s Chamkh and Gayle upfront. A more even game than the score and again Bolasie played well
Form Players in preseason: Bolasie. Murray has got goals but selection still questionable
Value players: Mariappa if he can get the RB spot but this is still not looking likely. Youngster Jerome Williams who’s not on FPL has the LB position. In the midfield Puncheon is the class at £6.0m. No real value elsewhere in midfield. All 4 forwards are value at £5.5m in a 3-5-2 but who will play?
Potential GW1 lineup: Speroni – Ward, 2 of Dann/Delaney/Hamgeland, J Williams/Ward if Mariappa RB – Jedinak, Ledley, Bolasie, Puncheon – 2 of Gayle/Murray/Chamkh/Campbell
Liverpool 2 Man City 2
Liverpool: Jones (Mignolet, 90), Kelly (Robinson, 46), Enrique (Johnson, 46), Coates, K Toure, Gerrard (Lucas, 76), Coutinho, Sturridge (Sahko, 76), Henderson, Allen (Can, 65), Lambert (Sterling, 46)
Manchester City: Caballero (Hart, 46), Clichy (Richards, 70), Kolarov, Boyata, Nastasic, Fernando, Navas, Zuculini, Milner (Iheanacho, 46), Jovetic (Yaya Toure, 70), Dzeko (Sinclair, 46)
Goals: Jovetic 2 Sterling Henderson
The 2 teams that were scoring machines of last season went head to head. Markovic and Skrtel had injury issues for Liverpool. Liverpool played a 4-4-2 diamond againin the first half and 4-3-3 in the 2nd with Coutinho and Sterling flanking Sturridge. Sterling was excellent when he came on for Liverpool. For City Jovetic kept up his scoring form and now has 4 this season. Navas is making hay while Nasri is injured. CDM Fernando again showed defensive discipline and it’s a shame he’s so expemsive in Sky.
Form Players in preseason: Liverpool: Sterling and Coutinho. Man City: Jovetic, Navas
Value players: Liverpool: Markovic at £7.5m if ghe can make the side in 4-3-3 but it’s a punt at this stage. Lambert at £7.5m could be an absolute bargain if he goes to 4-4-2 Man City: Dzeko at £8.5m and Jovetic at £8.0m if either can hold their place. Aguero certainly looks doubtful.
Potential GW1 lineups: Liverpool: Mignolet – Johnson, Enrique/Moreno if he joins, Skrtel, Lovren – Gerrard, Henderson – Coutinho, Sterling, Markovic – Sturridge. At 4-3-3 Sterling and Markovic either side of Sturridge and Emre Can in a midfield 3. 4-4-2 take out Markovic or Coutinho for Lambert
Man City – Hart – Zabaleta/Sagna, Kolarov/Clichy, Kompany, Demichelis – Fernando/Fernandinho, YYT,Silva, Nasri/Navas, Dzeko Jovetic (Aguero looking doubtful)
Inter Milan 0 Man Utd 0
Man United: Anders Lindegaard (sub: David De Gea, 46min); Chris Smalling (Tyler Blackett, 46), Phil Jones (Michael Keane, 46), Jonny Evans; Antonio Valencia (Luke Shaw, 46), Darren Fletcher, Ander Herrera (Tom Cleverley, 46), Ashley Young; Juan Mata (Shinji Kagawa, 46); Rooney (Wilfried Zaha, 46), Danny Welbeck (Nani, 46 (Javier Hernandez, 77).
3-5-2 or 3-4-1-2 if you like, is looking like the chosen formation as LVG rolled it out again complete with the bizzare sight of Ashley Young at LWB. Valencia was at RWB. Hererra and Fletcher as the CDMs and Mata behind Welbeck and Rooney. Add in De Gea instead of Lindegaard, Shaw at LWB instead of Young and RVP (if fit) instead of Welbeck and you could easily have the GW1 line up. Fletcher was impressive although played a deeper lying role more than Herrara. Fletchers looking an outside sky sports option for tackle bonus for me. At £5.0m in FPL he’s a bargain but only if he’s box to box not sitting. The Rooney Mata relationship is also looking strong and as part of a pair Rooney looks an option over RVP for the price difference. United were also pressing Milan high up the pitch which was interesting and could really help Mata as an option for assists. He’s obviously not known for his pressing but as far as creating chances he is one of the best and the high positioning if it continues should help that. The 2nd half saw a change in personnel but no change in formation.
Zaha at striker was interesting. It’s hard to see him breaking into the team but he does give the side real pace and it would be interesting if there was a sudden change to 4-3-3 from LVG although Welbeck would also be in with a shout. I can’t see it at this late stage.
Form players in preseason: Rooney, Herrera, Mata
Value players: Everyone is fairly valued. Rooney as a striking pair with RVP is good value at £2.0m cheaper
Potential GW1 lineup: De Gea – Smalling, Jones, Evans – Valencia, Shaw, Fletcher/Cleverly, Herrera – Mata, Rooney, RVP/Hernandez/Welbeck
Trencin 0 Hull 0 (Europa league qualifying tie)
Hull (3-5-2): McGregor 6; Davies 6, Bruce 8, Chester 6; Elmohamady 6, Huddlestone 5, Meyler 6 (Snodgrass 65, 6), Livermore 7, Rosenior 7; Aluko 5 (Ince 65, 6), Long 7 (Jelavic 86, 5)
A good result for Hull although the Slovakian side were no push over and controlled the game for long periods. Hull should have won but for a Huddlestones penalty (and rebound) miss. Is it only me who wonders why a guy who didn’t score for 2 years is taking a penalty?
A fairly even game and Hull really burst to life when the subs came on of Ince and Snodgrass.
Apart from that the main point of interest was the 3-5-2 formation which sees £4.0m Alex Bruce start. Whether the signing of Sheffield Uniteds CB Harry Maguire changes that or not remains to be seen but we get another chance to see this on August 7 for the return leg.
Form players: Long
Value players: £4.0m Bruce at CB if he can hold his place. Ince has attacking potential at £5.5m if he can get in the side as does Snodgrass at £6.0m if he has set pieces but you wouldn’t consider either a bargain.
Potential GW1 lineup: McGregor – Davies, Chester, Bruce/Maguire – Elmo, Rosenior/Robertson, Huddlestone, Livermore, Snodgrass – Long, Jelavic or if 4-4-2 Bruce out and one of Meyler, Boyd or Ince in.
Thats it for part 1. Part 2 later in the day
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