Here’s our fantasy premier league pre-season round up for Monday 23rd July to Thursday 26 July. 15 of the 20 premier league clubs were in action of that period and here’s a very brief look at all the games
fantasy premier league pre-season round up – this weeks games
Arsenal 1 A Madrid 1
No sign of any World Cup returners so hard to know how seriously to take this.
A £5.0m GK or defender would be great but £5.0m Leno started in goal with £5.0m Cech after about 60 along with loads of other subs so no help there. £5.0m def Kolasinac started but no Monreal to contest the position. £5.0m Holding started ahead of Sokratis but was at fault for the goal so him starting CB seems unlikely.
Aubameyang playing CF not LW would be helpful and he partnered Lacazette which is ok if not the ideal lone striker situation
Brighton 1 Portsmouth 1 and Brighton 1 Charlton 1
Uncertainties all over the place. Only Ryan (who was back) is safe in the defence and Schelotto is probably an outside chance of a £4.0m defender. There’s no certainties at all in defence and this game didn’t help. Dunk and Balogun were paired together but it’s questionable how much that meant. Murray started in the same team as Gross which is a good starting point for his return.
Preston 2 Burnley 3
With Burnley playing in Europa qualifiers I would ignore this game and use those for pointers on selection and form. Only Gudmundsson and Pope are World Cup returners
Aberdeen 1 Burnley 1
Here we’re looking at £6.5m fwd Wood and either mids £6.0m Gudmundsson or £5.5m Brady for set pieces. The defence and GK at £5.0m are too expensive for me.
Wood started as did Gudmundsson. Brady is being eased back so the situation on the flanks isn’t any clearer.
Pope surprisingly started due to a Heaton calf injury but then got a shoulder injury himself and could be out long term. Heaton’s apparently isn’t serious so the GK conundrum should be solved.
Gudmundsson was lively but Wood quiet.
Perth 0 Chelsea 1
With none of the 11 World Cup returners back this was as meaningless as you could get. The only thing of note was the 4-3-3 as expected and that Alonso beat Emerson to the LB role. How relevant that is in a back 4 is questionable. Otherwise there seems to be alot of variation in reporting of Morata’s performance and Pedro lined up in the front 3 in the absence of Willian and Hazard. Barkley, Fabregas and Jorginho the midfielders.
Stevenage 1 C Palace 2
This looked like a 2nd 11 to me with only Sorloth, maybe, and Guita the GK having some chance of starting GW1. The fact that £4.0m Wan Bissaka wasn’t in the squad was a positive. The GK position remains interesting although Tomkins at £4.5m is the same price so how relevant is questionable.
Blackburn 3 Everton 0
Here we’re looking for a £4.5m defender unless you’re shelling out £5.5m for Coleman. There’s a number of attacking options too all of which should start. These aremids £6.5m Richarlison £7.5m Sigurdsson and £6.5m Walcott. Up front £7.0m Tosun is a target.
2 halves 2 teams didn’t help the £4.5m defender hunt. However the game was a disaster all round with only Richarlison coming out with any credit.
Huddersfield 3 Lyon 1
Mooy returns but no Zanka or Lossl so far but Mooy played a half. A fairly mixed team of 2 halves almost which doesn’t help nail down selection. The highlight was the 2 goals from Depoitre which must help his case to start ahead Mounie. In my mind that’s not helpful as Mounie is the better striking option. New signing Diakhaby also got some minutes in
Akhisarspor 0-0 Leicester
Leicester have a ton of World Cup returners and none were on show here. The team was about as strong as it could be. £5.5m Mid Gray started as did £4.5m CB Morgan. £5.5m mid Albrighton was absent through injury.
Man City 1 Liverpool 2
Bernardo Silva was the only World Cup returner in the City team. Salah and Mane the returners for Liverpool. Salah scored in a minute of coming on and Mane interestingly took a penalty to win the match with Salah on the pitch. Sane scored as a sub for City. A £5.0m starting defender with longevity would be useful for Liverpool and the RB position seems the most likely position to find it. Interestingly £5.0m Clyne played RB with £5.0m Gomez playing CB in the first half and £5.0m Klavan in the 2nd. Clyne seems to be edging towards GW1 unless Alexander Arnold appears on the scene soon. £6.0m fwd Sturridge started as CF.
£13.0m Mid Salah was the highlight. £9.0m mid Mahrez dictated the game for City and £9.5m mid Sane was also lively.
Milan 1 Man Utd 1
£10.5m mid Sanchez was the goalscorer and star of the show. Apart from the injured Valencia the defence again lined up again as £5.5m Bailly, £6.0m Smalling and £5.0m Shaw. Not sure who started RB I’m afraid.
No £7.5m mid Martial who’s left for the birth of his child. There’s seems some doubt over the notice and the approval to go from Mourinho so how that ends up remains to be seen.
No World Cup returners yet for Man Utd on the pitch although De Gea and Matic are with the squad.
Hull 2 Newcastle 2
No players at the World Cup to complicate the position for Newcastle.
Our defensive target for me is £4.5m Yedlin who started and in attack £5.0m Kenedy who didn’t play for some reason nor did £6.0m fwd Gayle. £6.5m Forward Perez did and scored. The other goal coming from cheapie misfiring fwd £5.0m Joselu
Roma 1 Spurs 4
The difficulty with Spurs is the number of World Cup absentees. You either ignore them or go short term or with a couple of long termers in £6.0m def Davies and £9.5m mid Eriksen. However this was a very impressive performance from Spurs considering £6.0m def Sanchez was the only World Cup returner from a multitude of absentees. 2 goals from £6.0m fwd Llorente and 2 goals from £7.0m Moura were something to think about for those thinking of an early wildcard.
Villa 1 West Ham 3
Here we’re looking for a £4.5m defender, the new boys performance in £7.0m mids Yarmalenko and Anderson plus £7.0m fwd Arnautovic
£4.5m Ogbonna is looking to be the defensive safety net and he played the 90 minutes here. No sign of Yarmalenko but Anderson was impressive. Arnautovic scored again. However no sign of world cup returner £6.5m fwd Chicharito and any positional effect he may have on Arnautovic
Stoke 0 Wolves 0
Here we’re looking at £4.0m cheapie def Bennett as well as £4.5m GK Patricio. In attack £6.5m mid Jota is of interest as is £5.5m Jimenez.
All the above played and Jimenez played well apparently as did Patricio with a couple of good saves. Bennett started but it was a sub heavy mixed team so hard to know if it meant anything
If you watched the games or had anything to add please put it in the comments section below
See also our summary of last weekends games part 1 and part 2
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