FPL pre-season: Wilson injury, Saka return date, Yoro debut

We witnessed a bumper crop of pre-season friendlies take place on Saturday.

Some Premier League clubs were contesting their first official friendlies, others their second. A few were involved in behind-closed-doors kickabouts, which were glorified training matches.

Most of them have four or five more warm-up games to go. All of them have key players still to return from international duty.

With meaningful ‘key takeaways’ in short supply, then, we’ll rattle through the weekend action in this latest Scout Notes.

• READ MORE: FPL 2024/25 pre-season minutes tracker: Every player, every game
• READ MORE: FPL 2024/25: Premier League clubs’ pre-season friendlies by date

NEWCASTLE 3-1 SPVGG UNTERHACHING

• Goals: Barnes, J Murphy, Isak
• Assists: J Murphy, Barnes, Hall

The headline news from the Newcastle camp was not their behind-closed-doors win over a third-tier German club but rather the players not involved.

Callum Wilson (£7.0m) was unavailable for virtually half of the Magpies’ fixtures last season and he may be on course to miss the start of 2024/25. A back issue prevented his involvement in the training camp in Germany, with Eddie Howe unsure whether he’ll be fit for Gameweek 1.

Tino Livramento (£4.5m), whose campaign was ended early by an ankle injury, is among the other Newcastle players struggling for fitness.

“Callum has just gone to see a back specialist just to have a little procedure on his back.

“It’s just something he’s been feeling a little bit so we’re just getting it checked out. Let’s see (if he’ll miss the start of the season).”

“We do have a hangover of injuries from last year. Tino Livramento is still working his way back, Lloyd Kelly we’re just being protective over but he’s fit and fine. Matt Targett [is back at home].

“Joe Willock and the others, they are still working their way back to fitness and they haven’t started with the group from pre-season. Lewis Miley got injured — not with us but while doing some off-season work.” – Eddie Howe

Precious little footage of the kickabout with SpVgg Unterhaching exists. We’ve seen the goals, at least: Jacob Murphy (£5.5m) and Harvey Barnes (£6.5m) exchanging assists for each other’s strikes before Alexander Isak (£8.5m) raced on to a Lewis Hall (£4.5m) through-ball to finish.

An injury to Wilson will only further Fantasy interest in Isak, who currently sits in over 50% of FPL squads.

Newcastle United XI (first half): Pope, Lewis, Krafth, Burn, Hall, J Murphy, Joelinton, Longstaff, White, Barnes, Isak.

Newcastle United XI (second half): Vlachodimos, J Miley, Heffernan, Stanton, Shahar, Emmerson, Turner-Cooke, Harrison, Sanusi, Kuol, Parkinson.

ARSENAL 2-0 LEYTON ORIENT

• Goals: Jesus, Smith Rowe
• Assists: Nketiah, Jesus

The Gunners called this an ‘Arsenal XI’ in their match report. When there are Roman numerals involved, it normally means the B team is featuring.

But there were still a number of first-teamers present, with Jurrien Timber (£5.5m) getting 45 minutes at centre-half after missing almost all of last season.

“I think he is in a really good place at the moment, we are going to have to manage him now in the next few weeks because the load he has been able to do in the last few months compared to the next two weeks is very different but we are very excited.” – Mikel Arteta on Jurrien Timber

Ben White (£6.5m), Martin Odegaard (£8.5m) and Gabriel Jesus (£7.0m), not involved with their countries this summer, were also handed an hour.

Jesus was involved in both goals, finishing off Eddie Nketiah‘s (£6.0m) pass and then claiming an assist when his saved shot fell to Emile Smith Rowe (£5.5m). Nketiah wasted a hat-trick of good chances to add to the score.

Again, only brief footage of the training ground game exists.

So, when can we expect to see the rest of the big guns?

Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.0m), Gabriel Martinelli (£7.0m) and Kai Havertz (£8.0m) will join the squad on their tour of America from July 25.

But those players involved in the latter stages of Euro 2024, namely Declan Rice (£6.5m), Aaron Ramsdale (£4.5m), Bukayo Saka (£10.0m), David Raya (£5.5m) and William Saliba (£6.0m), won’t link up with their teammates until they return to the UK at the beginning of August.

That still gives them two pre-season friendlies to prove their match readiness for Gameweek 1.

“I do not think they will miss the start of the season. Let’s see what condition they come back in. all of the messages I have received from them they are really excited to come back and have a great season again. I do not expect anything else.” – Mikel Arteta on his late returnees from the Euros

On the injury front, Kieran Tierney (£4.5m) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (£5.0m) remain in rehab.

Arsenal XI: Hein (Nygaard 70), White (Rosiak 60), Timber (Rekik 46), Heaven (Monlouis 60), Lewis-Skelly (Nichols 60), Partey (Patino 46), Odegaard (Gower 60), Nelson (Nwaneri 60), Vieira (Smith-Rowe 46), Jesus (Salah Oulad-M’hand 60), Nketiah (Sagoe Jr 60).

Spartak Trnava 0-3 Aston Villa

• Goals: Bailey, Rogers, Archer
• Assists: Young, Rogers

Having netted a brace a few days earlier, Morgan Rogers (£5.0m) contributed another two attacking returns in Villa’s latest friendly win.

Again playing as a second striker rather than on the left, Rogers finished coolly when Kadan Young‘s shot had been blocked. Rogers then teed up Cameron Archer (£5.0m) for Villa’s final goal.

The confidence coursing through his veins was evidenced in a Ricky Villa-esque jink through the Trnava backline, with only a last-ditch tackle preventing another goal.

Jacob Ramsey‘s (£5.5m) return to training is one to watch regarding Rogers’ minutes but if he continues this form as a ’10’, then the left-wing rivalry may not be an issue.

Unai Emery again used two different XIs in this game, making wholesale changes at half-time.

Leon Bailey (£6.5m), operating on the right rather than in the middle as he had been at Walsall, lit up a dull first half with a curling effort.

Ross Barkley (£5.5m) helped inject some urgency after the break. Probing with his passing, it was his ball forward that led to Rogers’ goal. He’s caught the eye from central midfield in what we’ve seen of Villa so far this summer.

Aston Villa XI (first half): Gauci, Digne, Carlos, Swinkels, Nedeljkovic, Barrenechea, Dendoncker, Iling Jr, Bailey, Barry, Dobbin.

Aston Villa XI (second half): Olsen, Cash, Torres, Feeney, Moreno, Bogarde, Barkley, Young, Rogers, Kesler Hayden, Archer.

Rangers 0-2 Manchester United

• Goals: Amad, Hugill
• Assists: Mount, Oyedele

Big-money signing Leny Yoro (£4.5m) made his United debut at Murrayfield, playing 45 minutes of a win over Rangers.

It wasn’t a flawless display but he largely impressed, not just with two bits of recovery defending but his fine distribution, too. Might we see more clean sheets from the Red Devils next season after a poor 2023/24?

With most of the first team on their post-international breaks, it was otherwise almost the same group on show that slumped to defeat at Rosenborg.

Jadon Sancho (£6.5m) was back, however, operating on the left. Mason Mount (£6.5m) moved up to the ‘hole’, meanwhile, in Bruno Fernandes‘ (£8.5m) absence.

The star of the show was Amad Diallo (£5.0m), who was at his tormenting best down the United right. He capped off his performance with a fine goal, building on some eye-catching displays at the end of 2023/24.

Alejandro Garnacho (£6.5m) may have risen out of some FPL managers’ price ranges but could Amad have a similar breakthrough year from the same £5.0m starting price? The winger featured in all of United’s final seven league matches last season, starting the last three.

Erik ten Hag talked him up after full-time.

“We have to see Amad in a different way. Of course, he’s still young but he is not inexperienced any more. Last season he had bad times with bad injuries. Before that he was in the Championship and he had a great season. At the end of last season, he had a very good time in our first team and played some good games. Now for this season, this has to be the year.” – Erik ten Hag

Manchester United XI (first half): Onana; Wan-Bissaka, Yoro, Evans, Murray; Casemiro, Collyer; Amad, Mount, Sancho; Wheatley.

Manchester United XI (second half): Onana (c); Ogunneye, Fish, Bennett, Amass; J. Fletcher, Oyedele; Mather, Hannibal, Ennis; Hugill.

Queen’s Park Rangers 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur

• Goals: Bissouma, Scarlett
• Assists: Kulusevski, Moore

Richarlison (£7.0m) and Destiny Udogie (£5.0m) will be in the Spurs squad for their upcoming tour of Asia.

The pair haven’t featured this summer due to injuries sustained at the back-end of 2023/24 but will be part of a 31-man travelling party. With three friendlies set to take place in the Far East, we should soon get an idea of their fitness statuses.

Without that duo, it was mostly the same set-up for the Lilywhites following their win over Hearts.

James Maddison (£7.5m) and Dejan Kulusevski (£6.5m) were both used as ‘eights’ again, with Son Heung-min (£10.0m) leading the line – and wasting two Brennan Johnson (£6.5m) assists from close range – once more. New signing Archie Gray (£5.0m) again had to deputise at centre-half.

With Son and Timo Werner (£6.5m) evoking bad memories of the second half of 2023/24 with some wastefulness, it was left to those further back to impress. Kulusevski again looked better centrally than on the right, combining with Yves Bissouma (£5.0m) for the Lilywhites’ opener.

Lucas Bergvall (£4.5m) caught the eye once more before a minor injury ended his afternoon early. Ange Postecoglou showed faith in Pape Matar Sarr (£5.0m) last season and it wouldn’t be a shock to see Bergvall get plenty of minutes, even if it’s as a substitute, in the upcoming campaign.

Spurs XI: Austin (Gunter 46), Pedro Porro (Spence 46), Gray (Royal 46), Skipp (Phillips 46), Donley (Abbott 46), Sarr (Maddison 46), Bissouma (Devine 46), Bergvall (Kulusevski 25 (Hall 66 (Scarlett 85))), Johnson (Moore 46), Son (Lankshear 46 (Veliz 66)), Werner (Solomon 46).

Wimbledon 2-5 Brentford

• Goals: Thiago x2, Wissa pen, Schade, Mbeumo
• Assists: Stevens, Morgan

Ivan who? The quartet who might be forming the Brentford attack next season were all on the scoresheet at Plough Lane.

The man who may be spearheading the Bees’ frontline, new signing Igor Thiago (£6.0m), quickly got off the mark.

They were two excellently taken goals, too. The first saw him follow up his own blocked effort with a bit of neat control before shooting. The second was a beautiful dink over the on-rushing Wimbledon ‘keeper.

The calibre of friendly opponent now steps up in difficulty, so let’s see if the new Brentford number 9 can cut it against someone other than League Two fodder.

Yoane Wissa (£6.0m) staked a claim for penalty-taking duties if Toney moves. Not that we can read too much into this: he was fouled for the spot-kick and immediately grabbed the ball, while Bryan Mbeumo (£7.0m) wasn’t on the pitch.

Mbeumo emerged for the second half to play on the right of a front three as usual, lashing home Brentford’s fifth. Kevin Schade (£5.5m), on the other flank, had intercepted a loose Dons pass to score before that.

The shortage of full-backs was again noticeable, with Rico Henry (£4.5m) and Aaron Hickey (£4.5m) still nowhere to be seen after their injury-affected 2023/24 campaigns.

Brentford XI (first half): Cox; Roerslev, Ji-soo, Pinnock, Stevens; Konak, Janelt, Peart-Harris; Yogane, Thiago, Wissa

Brentford XI (second half): Cox (Valdimarsson 61); Crama, Collins, Ajer, Fredrick; Armstrong, Owen, Onyeka; Mbeumo, Morgan, Schade

Dagenham & Redbridge 0-1 West Ham United

• Goals: Irving
• Assists: Ward-Prowse

The same group of players that drew with Ferencvaros last week just about did the job at Dagenham.

And there were similar observations: a 4-3-3, lots of possession, solid enough defensively and plenty of attacking license afforded to the full-backs. Emerson Palmieri (£4.5m) will be one to watch in this system, especially as Lopetegui does tend to tighten up defences wherever he goes.

The unpriced Andy Irving scored a superb winner following a lay-off from James Ward-Prowse (£6.5m), who has looked decent under his new boss so far.

So too has Max Kilman (£4.5m), whose distribution looks like being a real asset to the Hammers.

The east Londoners were again without their magnificent seven from the Euros/Copa America. They now look set to rejoin their teammates in the US.

West Ham United XI: Fabiański (Foderingham 46), Casey (Kodua 46), Zouma (Mavropanos 46), Kilman (Aguerd 46), Emerson (Scarles 63), Potts (Irving 46), Orford (Kelly 63), Ward-Prowse (Kudus 63), Luis Guilherme (Earthy 46), Cornet (Cresswell 46), Marshall (Ings 46)

Shakhtar Donetsk 0-1 Ipswich Town

• Goal: Morsy
• Assist: Burns

An Ipswich Town side that wasn’t a million miles away from being full strength claimed a win in Austria.

The back four was almost what we’d expect to see in Gameweek 1, the one uncertainty being Cameron Burgess (£4.0m) v Jacob Greaves (£4.0m) at centre-half. We should get a better idea of that in the next few friendlies.

Two of last season’s midfield regulars, Wes Burns (£5.0m) and Sam Morsy (£5.0m), combined for the latter’s goal, which wasn’t a regular occurrence in 2023/24.

Conor Chaplin (£5.5m) supported George Hirst (£5.5m) in attack, again something we saw a lot of in the Championship. Chaplin twice went close, seeing a goalbound shot blocked and then narrowly missing a Leif Davis (£4.5m) cross.

New boy Liam Delap (£5.5m) also looked lively off the bench.

Sitting on that early Morsy goal, the Tractor Boys produced a solid defensive display against the Ukrainian giants.

Nathan Broadhead (£5.0m) missed out through an injury picked up last week that is still being assessed, while Axel Tuanzebe (£4.0m) was absent for personal reasons.

Harry Clarke (£4.0m) and Ali Al-Hamadi (£5.0m) continue to recover from surgeries, meanwhile.

The absence of Omari Hutchinson (£5.5m) is thought to be linked to a lack of training time.

Ipswich Town XI: Walton (Slicker 46), Johnson, Woolfenden (Edmundson 46), Burgess (Greaves 46), Davis (Baggott 60), Morsy (F Barbrook 75), Burns (Ayinde 60 (Nwabueze 86)), Chaplin (Foyo 86), Harness (Ladapo 60), Taylor (Luongo 46), Hirst (Delap 60).

AFC Bournemouth 1-1 Wrexham

• Goal: Senesi
• Assist: Billing

‘Jordan v McElhenney/Reynolds’ was more turgid B-movie than Hollywood blockbuster.

Much of Bournemouth’s success last season was predicated on high pressing and energy but in the heat of California, with the squad still building up stamina in pre-season, they were understandably short of their best.

Many of the regulars came off the bench after the interval, including Dominic Solanke (£7.5m). Introduced for the final quarter, he almost marked his cameo with a goal.

Another second-half sub, Marcos Senesi (£5.0m), bagged the equaliser after James Hill‘s (£4.0m) own-goal. Senesi supplied more attacking returns than any other Premier League centre-back in 2023/24 and here he was again, nodding in from a hooked Philip Billing (£5.0m) pass.

“I didn’t finish very happy with the performance, especially the first half. We played really slow. It was not the easiest day to play. We wanted to put rhythm, but couldn’t, especially in the first half.

“The ball was moving very, very slow and the difference in divisions is the rhythm to do the things. If we play slow, you cannot feel this difference. I think we didn’t play quickly enough.” – Andoni Iraola

Bournemouth XI: Dennis; Smith (Aarons 46), Hill (Senesi 46), Mepham (Kinsey 66), Bevan (Kerkez 29); Kilkenny (Cook 46), Scott (Christie 66); Semenyo (Tavernier 46), Billing (Solanke 66), Anthony (Ouattara 46); Jebbison (Faivre 46).

Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-0 Bristol City

• Goals: Cunha, Hwang, own-goal
• Assists: Cundle, Sarabia, Dawson

Another training ground game, another match with next-to-no television coverage.

We haven’t even seen Wolves’ third strike, an own-goal reportedly forced by Craig Dawson (£4.5m).

Dawson was the only notable name involved who hadn’t been part of the win over Como five days earlier.

Many of the Wolves squad were handed an hour, with the match contested over 120 minutes. The second-half XI looked the stronger of the two, although Matheus Cunha (£6.5m) featured in the first hour and netted from distance.

Hwang Hee-chan (£6.5m) then latched onto a Pablo Sarabia (£5.5m) pass to round the Bristol City ‘keeper and score.

Wolves XI (first half): Bentley, Lima, S Bueno, Toti, H Bueno, Cundle, Lemina, Bellegarde, Cunha, Chiquinho, Guedes (Chirewa 30).

Wolves XI (second half): King, Doherty, Mosquera, Dawson (Lonwijk 107), Ait-Nouri, Hodge, Doyle, Sarabia, Hwang, R Gomes (Hoever 109), Strand Larsen.

Leicester City 2-1 Villarreal 

• Goals: Vardy, Mavididi
• Assists: Justin, Coady

Yet another behind-closed-doors game with little footage existing.

Not much to go off in Steve Cooper’s first match in charge, then, although the Foxes appeared to be in something resembling a 4-4-2 in the first half.

That didn’t stop James Justin (£4.5m) from bombing forward from full-back to tee up Jamie Vardy (£5.5m) for the opener.

Stephy Mavididi (£5.5m), scorer of a dozen league goals last season, grabbed the winner. Latching onto a long punt from Conor Coady (£4.0m), the winger bided his time before curling in an excellent shot from the edge of the box.

Harry Souttar (£4.0m) scored an unfortunate own-goal in between.

Almost everyone bar the Euro 2024 contingent was involved in this one as two different XIs took to the field in four 30-minute halves.

Leicester City XI (first hour): Ward, Cover, Souttar, Okoli, Justin, Winks, Ndidi, Fatawu, Marcal, Cannon, Vardy.

Leicester City XI (second hour): Iversen, Pereira, Nelson, Coady, Thomas, Choudhury, Soumare, McAteer, Golding, Mavididi, Daka.

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