FPL pre-season: Haaland hat-trick, Bobb shines, Nkunku up front

Erling Haaland (£15.0m) and Oscar Bobb (£5.0m) were both on the scoresheet for Manchester City on Saturday.

City’s 4-2 win over Chelsea is one of six more pre-season friendlies summarised here.

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CHELSEA 2-4 MANCHESTER CITY

• Goals: Raheem Sterling, Noni Madueke | Erling Haaland x3, Oscar Bobb
• Assists: Noni Madueke, Romeo Lavia | James McAtee x2

Erling Haaland bounced back from his ‘muscular issues’ to score a hat-trick in Ohio, as preparations stepped up for Sunday’s Community Shield.

Within five minutes, Haaland had scored twice, profiting from two Chelsea mistakes at the back. Further individual errors followed, with a third arriving after the break.

“It’s not perfect [my condition] but it’s getting better.” – Erling Haaland

The scorer of Manchester City’s third, Oscar Bobb, also impressed.

The £5.0m midfielder has been excellent on the right wing throughout pre-season and, in this kind of form, is a likely starter at Wembley, with positional rivals Bernardo Silva (£6.5m), Jeremy Doku (£6.5m) and new signing Savinho (£6.5m) only joining pre-season training this week.

Expect Jack Grealish (£6.5m) to take up the other flank role in support of Haaland, given Pep Guardiola’s post-match comments:

“Jack has had an unbelievable four games. I said the first game is about rhythm. Against Barcelona, he made five shots, one goal and today he is aggressive. I remember perfectly the Jack I know. Not how he performs but how he’s training and his behaviours, which are like two seasons ago. A lot of competition is there [in his position] and the best player who produces for the team will play.” – Pep Guardiola on Jack Grealish

Elsewhere, Ederson (£5.5m) had “niggles” and wasn’t risked, while Josko Gvardiol (£6.0m) once again featured at centre-half, with City light on defenders for this tour.

As for Chelsea, substitutes Raheem Sterling (£7.0m) and Noni Madueke (£6.5m) pulled goals back but this was an alarming defensive display, with issues playing out from the back. City’s penalty came after Tosin Adarabioyo (£4.5m) hit a pass straight to Grealish, for example.

Tactically, Malo Gusto (£5.0m) played more like a wing-back, rather than inverting like he did against Club America, while Christopher Nkunku (£6.5m) led the line, forcing Stefan Ortega (£5.5m) into a couple of saves. The Frenchman looked far more comfortable after shifting back behind Marc Guiu (£5.0m) in the second half, however.

Chelsea XI: Sanchez; James, Adarabioyo (Badiashile 59), Colwill, Gusto; Lavia, Caicedo (Sterling 46), Enzo (Guiu 59); Mudryk (Madueke 46), Dewsbury-Hall, Nkunku

Manchester City XI: Ortega (Carson 80); Lewis (Susoho 70), Phillips (Mfuni 87), Gvardiol (Doyle 87), Wilson-Esbrand (Galvez 46); Kovacic (Wright 80), McAtee (Perrone 80), O’Reilly (Samuel 87); Bobb (Fatah 70), Grealish (Ndala 70), Haaland (Oboavwoduo 80)

LIVERPOOL 3-0 MANCHESTER UNITED

• Goals: Fabio Carvalho, Curtis Jones, Kostas Tsimikas
• Assists: Diogo Jota x2, Mohamed Salah

Liverpool came out on top against Manchester United with a deserved 3-0 win.

Fabio Carvalho (£5.0m), Curtis Jones (£5.5m) and Kostas Tsimikas (£5.0m) scored the goals, but for FPL managers, the assisters carried more significance.

Diogo Jota (£7.5m) started up front, claimed two assists and really should have scored, while Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) looked typically sharp, crossing for Jones to knock in from yards out.

A quick word on Harvey Elliott (£5.5m), too. The standout performer against Arsenal last week, he continues to impress in a no 10 role. With the license to drift out wide, he’s arguably been Liverpool’s best player in pre-season.

Above: Harvey Elliott’s touch heatmap v Manchester United

As for Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.5m), he didn’t feature at all here due to fatigue, which Arne Slot spoke about after full-time.

“I think it’s our 13th day of the tour. Dominik joined every session and every game, and we played the last one two days ago. I think it’s a bit of fatigue and we don’t want to take any risks because we fly back to Liverpool tonight and on Tuesday all the other players arrive as well, so we want to start off then with all the players available and we didn’t want to take any risk with him today.” – Arne Slot on Dominik Szoboszlai

As above, Virgil van Dijk (£6.0m), Joe Gomez (£5.0m), Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m), Cody Gakpo (£7.5m), Luis Diaz (£7.5m) and Darwin Nunez (£7.5m) were all back at the AXA Training Centre on Sunday following their summer breaks, with Alisson Becker (£5.5m) expected to join them tomorrow.

Erik ten Hag, meanwhile, opted for Jadon Sancho (£6.5m) as a false nine but he failed to convince, moving to the wing for the last 30 minutes. Instead, it was Marcus Rashford (£6.5m) who carried the most threat, racking up three shots in total

Problems persist at the back for United, though key defenders Lisandro Martinez (£4.5m) and Luke Shaw (£5.0m) are at least expected to return to training later this week. Harry Maguire (£4.5m) was absent here as a precaution.

Liverpool XI: Kelleher (Jaros 46); Bradley (Stephenson 73), Quansah (Phillips 65), Konate (Van den Berg 46), Tsimikas (Chambers 65); Gravenberch (Endo 65), Elliott (Morton 65), Jones (Nyoni 59); Salah (Blair 65), Carvalho (Doak 65), Jota (Bajcetic 65)

Manchester United XI: Onana; Wan-Bissaka (Scanlon 83), Evans (Fish 46, Oyedele 73), Lindelof (Bennett 46), Amass (Murray 73); Casemiro, Collyer (Eriksen 63); Amad (Antony 63), Mount (Wheatley 63), Rashford (McTominay 46); Sancho (Mather 73)

CLUB AMERICA 1-0 ASTON VILLA

Aston Villa suffered their third successive pre-season defeat, despite naming a strong first XI against Club America.

Leon Bailey’s (£6.5m) curled low effort hit the base of the post in the first half but Villa looked blunt in attack without Ollie Watkins (£9.0m), with just one goal scored across their three US tour games.

Summer signing Ian Maatsen (£5.0m) made his first start in Chicago, playing high and wide, along with Youri Tielemans (£5.5m) in central midfield.

Further forward, John McGinn (£5.5m) played off the left, with Morgan Rogers (£5.0m) supporting Cameron Archer (£5.0m) in a no 10 role. However, it was the returning Jacob Ramsey (£5.5m) who impressed most.

Stepping off the bench at half-time, he took up some dangerous positions on the left, with further minutes expected against Athletic Bilbao and Borussia Dortmund in the coming days.

Aston Villa XI: Gauci (Zych 63); Cash (Nedeljkovic 46), Bogarde (Dendoncker 46), Pau (Digne 46), Maatsen (Moreno 46); Bailey (Philogene 56), Onana (Barrenechea 46), Tielemans (Barkley 46); McGinn (Ramsey 46); Rogers (Buendia 46); Archer (Dobbin 63)

RB LEIPZIG 0-3 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS

• Goals: Pablo Sarabia x2, Rodrigo Gomes
• Assists: Matt Doherty, Jorgen Strand Larsen, Hwang Hee-chan

Wolverhampton Wanderers continued their pre-season with a fine 3-0 win over Bundesliga side RB Leipzig.

In a convincing display, Pablo Sarabia (£5.5m) hit a brace, before Rodrigo Gomes (£5.5m), who started on the left, completed the scoring with his third goal of pre-season.

Jorgen Strand Larsen (£5.5m) also returned, claiming an assist when his shot hit the upright.

It’s been a productive couple of weeks for Wolves in the US and it does feel like £4.0m defender Yerson Mosquera (£4.0m) is edging closer to a start in Gameweek 1.

Against Leipzig, Gary O’Neil singled him and Toti Gomes (£4.5m) out for praise:

“Out of possession we were excellent all night, I thought the pressing was good, the defending was good, some of the emergency defending from Toti and Yerson was excellent.” – Gary O’Neil

Wolverhampton Wanderers XI: Bentley (Sa 68); Doherty (Semedo 68), Mosquera (S Bueno 77), Toti (H Bueno 77), Ait-Nouri; Lemina (Doyle 45), Bellegarde (J Gomes 68); Sarabia (Neto 68), Hwang (Guedes 77), R Gomes (Chiquinho 77); Strand Larsen

BOURNEMOUTH 1-0 RAYO VALLECANO

• Goals: Luis Sinisterra

Bournemouth beat Andoni Iraola’s former club Rayo Vallecano 1-0 in their first home pre-season friendly of the summer.

The goal arrived via Luis Sinisterra (£5.0m), who rounded the ‘keeper to slot home on 32 minutes.

Dango Ouattara (£5.0m) later hit the woodwork, while Antoine Semenyo (£5.5m) was deployed on the left following his half-time introduction.

However, it was new signing Dean Huijsen (£4.5m) who caught the eye.

The 19-year-old, who arrived from Juventus, lined up in central defence alongside Illia Zabarnyi (£4.5m) and was excellent, later partnering Marcos Senesi (£5.0m).

Dominic Solanke (£7.5m), meanwhile, wasn’t included after picking up an injury earlier in the week.

“It is not a big injury, but someone stamped on his foot yesterday [Saturday] and it made no sense to risk him. Hopefully he will be fine and ready for Girona.” – Andoni Iraola on Dominic Solanke

Bournemouth XI: Travers (Neto 46); Smith (Aarons 82), Huijsen (Anthony 72), Zabarnyi (Senesi 46), Kerkez; Scott, Christie (Hill 72); Ouattara, Tavernier (Faivre 82), Sinisterra (Semenyo 46); Jebbison (Traore 72)

CRYSTAL PALACE 3-1 WEST HAM UNITED

• Goals: Tyrick Mitchell, Jeffrey Schlupp, Odsonne Edouard | Michail Antonio
• Assists: Jordan Ayew, Jeffrey Schlupp

Crystal Palace were good value for their 3-1 win over West Ham United.

Tyrick Mitchell (£5.0m) opened the scoring with an accurate right-foot shot inside the first minute before Jeffrey Schlupp (£5.0m) and Odsonne Edouard (£5.5m) later found the net.

New man Daichi Kamada (£5.5m) lined up in a deeper central midfield role in Oliver Glasner’s 3-4-2-1 formation but Palace are still without Marc Guehi (£4.5m), Daniel Munoz (£5.0m), Jefferson Lerma (£5.0m), Eberechi Eze (£7.0m) and new signing Ismaila Sarr (£6.5m).

They are due to start training on Wednesday, so Palace’s final pre-season friendly against Nantes should provide further clues to Kamada’s position.

As for West Ham, there was a well-taken goal from Michail Antonio (£5.5m), but they are “learning a new way to play” under Julen Lopetegui, which will clearly take time to implement.

Alphonse Areola (£4.5m), Lucas Paqueta (£6.0m) and Jarod Bowen (£7.5m) arrive at West Ham’s training camp this week, so expect to see them in action against Celta Vigo.

“I’m obviously disappointed by the result, but we’re seeing some positive signs as obviously we’re changing the philosophy, changing the tactics, changing how we played from last season, so things are going to take us time to build up for us to learn how we want to play, so we can take a lot of positives from the game and keep moving forward.” – Michail Antonio

Crystal Palace XI: Henderson; Riad, Andersen, Richards; Clyne, Hughes, Kamada, Mitchell; Ayew (Rodney 85), Schlupp (Umeh 85), Edouard (Mathurin 85)

West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Coufal (Kodua 81), Mavropanos, Kilman, Cresswell (L Guilherme 64), Emerson (Earthy 74); Potts (Aguerd 46), Ward-Prowse, Soucek (Irving 81); Kudus, Antonio (Marshall 64)

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