Fantasy Football Scout

Dominic Solanke’s arrival at Tottenham Hotspur was confirmed on Saturday, for a fee that could rise to £65m depending on add-ons.

Priced up at £7.5m by Fantasy Premier League (FPL) upon the game’s relaunch earlier this summer, the 26-year-old is in contention to feature in Spurs’ Premier League opener against Leicester City.

We run the rule over Solanke in this Moving Target piece, where we have included data and images from our Premium Members Area and StatsBomb, with whom we are partnering for 2024/25.

SOLANKE TO SPURS: IN QUOTES

“We identified him because he has the attributes we are looking for in terms of that position. He gives us some things we probably have been missing in the last 12 months, particularly when Richy [Richarlison] was out last year.

“When Richy played he was very effective for us but it was quite evident when he was out we didn’t really have a player who can make the impact that I know Dom can in the final third and just with his general play. So I think he will be a good fit for us.” – Ange Postecoglou

“Me as a player, I’m ambitious on the pitch, I work hard for the team, score goals, leave it all out there and love winning, so hopefully we can win a few things together. That’s what I’m going to bring, that fighting spirit. I’d say my attributes are movement, goals, hard work and link-up play, so hopefully I can bring all that together at Tottenham.” – Dominic Solanke

SOLANKE: FPL HISTORY

After an indifferent spell at Liverpool, Solanke joined Bournemouth in January 2019.

Signed by Eddie Howe for £19m, he initially struggled to score goals, finding the net just three times in his first 42 Premier League appearances for the club.

He blitzed the Championship in 2021/22, racking up 29 goals, but could only follow that up with six upon his return to the top-flight.

However, he went from strength to strength under Andoni Iraola last season. Coached to stay central and remain higher up the pitch, Solanke scored 19 goals to finish joint-fourth in the race for the Golden Boot.

Above: The leading FPL forwards for goals in 2023/24

Solanke achieved 22 attacking returns overall, while his 175 points ensured he was the third-highest FPL points-scoring forward – an excellent achievement given that he was playing for a bottom-half club.

WHERE DOES SOLANKE FIT IN AT SPURS?

This one is straightforward, simply because Solanke is a pure centre-forward.

Tottenham now have two main options in this position, with Richarlison (£7.0m) set to compete with Solanke for a starting berth.

The Brazilian did a good job of leading the line for Spurs last season, scoring in eight successive winter games, but Solanke is more technically adept for the role and should do a better job.

Dejan Kulusevski (£6.5m) has had a fantastic pre-season playing in the number nine role for Spurs, but he should move to the right or central midfield.

“No, I don’t think [we’ll use Kulusevski there again]. The good thing about Deki is that he can play attacking midfield and out wide. I think the reason why we signed Dom, and hopefully Richy should be ready as well, is that we want to have a player through that area who is a bit more accustomed to that role.

“Deki has done a great job for us but I think his strengths and attributes are more in that attacking midfield or wide role. I think he is really developing and has had a really strong pre-season for us and hopefully, it gives us some more flexibility and potency through the midfield when he is playing because he can get into those scoring areas.” – Ange Postecoglou

… AND WILL HE START IN GAMEWEEK 1?

Every Premier League club bar Arsenal is involved in a pre-season friendly this weekend – and we’ll be covering them all, as usual, in our regular Scout Notes round-ups.

We begin with the two matches on Friday night and the first three to take place on Saturday.

Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Bayern Munich

Goal: Porro

Assist: Bissouma

Spurs’ pre-season tour of Asia ended without Richarlison (£7.0m) or Destiny Udogie (£5.0m) kicking a ball.

Both players made the trip to the Far East, with Ange Postecoglou previously saying that Udogie could feature against Bayern. He didn’t, and neither did Richarlison.

Dejan Kulusevski (£6.5m) led the line again for the Lilywhites, although that looks like a temporary fix while striking reinforcements are sourced. Dominic Solanke (£7.5m) is among the names linked with the club.

Djed Spence (£4.5m) may save Postecoglou the bother of recruiting any more full-backs, however. He’s featured on both flanks in pre-season, here operating down the left in Udogie’s absence. He didn’t look entirely comfortable but then neither did the rest of the Spurs backline, who were dominated by Bayern in the opening half especially. Just as much space was afforded down Pedro Porro‘s (£5.5m) side.

The Spurs boss has said some complimentary things about Spence recently. With Messrs Royal and Reguilon possibly heading out the door, plus Ben Davies (£4.5m) not convincing as an ‘inverted full-back’, there may yet be a future for him in north London. For us FPL managers, the prospect of a £4.5m attack-minded defender being only an injury away from starts is an intriguing one.

Back to the action in stifling Seoul and the effects of Ange’s Boot Camp seemed to have a say. Even the Spurs boss himself admitted that fatigue was a factor.

“I thought it was a tough game for us. Fair to say the players are feeling the effects of us working hard for the last 10 days here and we didn’t look really sharp, particularly in that first half and we had to work hard but the players, I think for us, what’s important is I think we’ll get enormous benefit out of the camp we’ve had here and I think we paid a price a little bit tonight for the work we’ve done.” – Ange Postecoglou

Spurs only had two shots in the first half, with more of a fight raised after the interval. The typically forward-thinking Porro netted from distance and set up a great Lucas Bergvall (£4.5m) chance. Son Heung-min (£10.0m) also teed up Pape Matar Sarr (£5.0m) for a gilt-edged opportunity.

The teenage Bergvall again outperformed James Maddison (£7.5m). How long before he gets the nod for real? Maybe not in Gameweek 1, maybe not at all. But if Maddison continues the middling form that has dogged him in 2024, the odds will get shorter.

Tottenham Hotspur XI: Vicario (Austin 75), Pedro Porro (Abbott 79), Dragusin (Bissouma 46), Davies (Skipp 64), Spence (Donley 64), Sarr (Devine 64), Gray (Royal 46), Maddison (Bergvall 46), Kulusevski (Lankshear 75), Son (Werner 75), Johnson (Moore 75).

Yokohama F Marinos 2-0 Newcastle United

Also struggling in the heat of East Asia were Newcastle, who tasted defeat – like Spurs, deservedly – for the first time in pre-season.

This match marked the first summer friendly appearances of Bruno Guimaraes (£6.5m), Lloyd Kelly (£4.5m) and Fabian Schar (£5.5m). FPL managers who own Dan Burn (£4.5m) will be watching Kelly’s progress carefully, although the money would still be on Burn starting in Gameweek 1 at this stage.

Anthony Gordon (£7.5m) and Kieran Trippier (£6.0m), the last men back from international duty, will be reunited with their teammates this week.

Joe Willock (£5.0m) wasn’t risked as a precaution, while Callum Wilson (£7.0m) was again absent. As reported previously, he’s a major doubt for Gameweek 1.

There’ll have been concerns that the Magpies would be two strikers down when Alexander Isak (£8.5m) hurt his shoulder in the first half of Saturday’s match. He seems to have avoided serious injury, however, despite being taken off at half-time.

“No, that was scheduled for him. Of course, he went over on his shoulder early in the game, it was sore but he was fine to carry on. We don’t envisage any problems but of course, we need to check out the mechanism and how his shoulder is but I think he looks OK.” – Eddie Howe on Alexander Isak’s half-time withdrawal

The return of Bruno was a consolation. The Brazilian tempo-setter was at the heart of many of Newcastle’s first-half chances, playing some cute balls over the top for Isak to run onto. Hanging on to those two will be as celebrated as any other new arrival.

Isak teed Sean Longstaff (£5.0m) up from one of those chances, being denied himself on another occasion.

The kids and the second string were mostly on the field in the second half, to provide some mitigation for this loss.

Newcastle United XI: Vlachodimos (Pope 46), Livramento (Ashby 46), Schar (Krafth 46), Kelly (Burn 46), Hall (Lewis 64), Longstaff, Joelinton (A. Harrison 64), Guimaraes (Sanusi 46 (Turner-Cooke 88)), Barnes (J. Murphy 46), Almiron, Isak (Parkinson 46).

Ipswich Town 1-0 Hoffenheim

Goal: Taylor

Assist: Hutchinson

Liam Delap (£5.5m) may have a clear run at the striker’s role for Ipswich, depending on the results of a scan on George Hirst‘s (£5.5m) knee.

Hirst missed this win over Hoffenheim, with Delap starting and lasting an hour. Freddie Ladapo (£4.5m), getting more minutes than he would have expected due to the shortage of numbers, provided second-half relief.

“George has got an issue, a knock from the game last weekend. He’s not been with us this week, he’s seeing some specialists and we can’t update on the definite timeline yet. We will do as soon as we can.” – Kieran McKenna

The starting XI on show was largely what you’d expect come Gameweek 1. One of the possible exceptions, central midfielder Jack Taylor (£5.0m), grabbed the only goal of the game. He was on hand to lash home when a corner was worked short and fortuitously ran into his path. Peripheral in the second tier, his impressive pre-season may be rewarded with an opening-day start.

Omari Hutchinson (£5.5m) grabbed the assist for that goal. The £20m winger, who ended last season in such good form, was getting his first minutes of the summer here.

Leif Davis (£4.5m) was again high up the pitch, as well as on his usual set pieces. No deviation from the Championship template, then. In fact, new signing Conor Townsend (£4.0m) played the exact same advanced role when being introduced for his Town debut.

The Tractor Boys impressed, with Ari Muric (£4.5m) looking the part between the posts. He averaged 4.7 points per match in his 10 starts for Burnley in 2023/24; not an average you’re likely to see sustained over the season but Rate My Team (RMT) does like him as the stand-out £4.5m goalkeeping pick for the first quarter of 2024/25.

Ipswich Town XI: Muric (Walton 76), Johnson (Tuanzebe 46), Woolfenden (Edmundson 46), Greaves (Burgess 46), Davis (Townsend 62), Morsy (Luongo 46), Taylor (Carr 74), Harness (Ayinde 84), Chaplin (Foyo 84), Hutchinson (Burns 46), Delap (Ladapo 62).

Benfica 0-1 Fulham

Goal: Iwobi

Assist: Robinson

One of the most attacking FPL defenders available at £4.5m is Antonee Robinson, who contributed six assists last season.

He set up another strike in Fulham’s win over Benfica on Friday, teeing up Alex Iwobi (£5.5m) for the game’s only goal. Robinson was even more advanced in this game, offering the width that winger Adama Traore (£5.0m) was proving on the other flank. His run for Iwobi’s opener was encouragingly gung-ho:

Given the opening fixtures that the Cottagers have, Robinson should have a few suitors at that price.

With Iwobi (drifting infield) and Robinson working well in tandem, and Andreas Pereira (£5.5m) to be added to the mix, the question is now over where new boy Emile Smith Rowe (£5.5m) fits in. It might be on the left, with the versatile Iwobi switching flanks, but Adama has looked more like his old Wolves self this summer. The next magic trick for Marco Silva is adding attacking returns to Iwobi and Adama’s games, two individuals who have often struggled for end product.

“In some moments last season, we needed someone to play with Andreas or Alex in those [central] areas of the pitch. Can play there, can play out wide as well on the left hand side.” – Marco Silva on Emile Smith Rowe

Rodrigo Muniz (£6.0m) couldn’t get on the scoresheet but had a few sights of goal and linked play well.

The Fulham goal led a charmed life, with an unlikely clean sheet arriving thanks to Bernd Leno (£5.0m) heroics, woodwork strikes and off-the-line clearances.

Fulham XI: Leno; Tete (Castagne 73), Diop, Bassey, Robinson (Sessegnon 74); Lukić (Reed 74), King (Andreas 60), Cairney (Pajaziti 79); Adama (Wilson 74), Muniz (Raúl 73), Iwobi (Godo 79).

Nottingham Forest 0-0 Villarreal

Taiwo Awoniyi (£6.0m) got his first minutes of pre-season, appearing as a late substitute in Friday’s stalemate at the City Ground.

A few spurned sighters betrayed his rustiness, and Chris Wood (£6.0m) still looks very likely to start come Gameweek 1.

“We are taking care of him. He needs time. He started working with us for one week. He needs time. We know his quality, but his fitness level must increase. It is normal that we still see players struggling, in terms of fitness, but we still have two weeks to get them really well to face Bournemouth. This is what it is all about – preparation for the first game of the league.” – Nuno Espirito Santo on Taiwo Awoniyi

Wood himself missed last week’s defeat to Elche due to “load management” but was back in the starting XI here, lasting over an hour. He was denied a stunning goal when his volley was turned over.

Forest look like a bit of an ‘almost’ team under Nuno. Almost defensively sound, especially after the signing of new centre-half Nikola Milenkovic (£4.5m), but still prone to errors like the one Murillo (£4.5m) gave away for Villarreal’s missed penalty. And almost exciting in attack, but just missing that elite edge.

The Gameweek 1 line-up almost looks settled, at least, save for perhaps Elliot Anderson (£5.0m) gatecrashing the midfield party.

Son Heung-min (£10.0m), Dejan Kulusevski (£6.5m) and Alexander Isak (£8.5m) were all on the scoresheet on Wednesday, with three more pre-season friendlies summarised here.

There’ll be another round-up later today, taking in the action from the early Thursday morning matches.

TEAM K LEAGUE 3-4 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

Goals: Dejan Kulusevski, Son Heung-min x2, Will Lankshear

Assists: Son Heung-min, Jamie Donley, Dejan Kulusevski, Timo Werner

Tottenham Hotspur won their fourth pre-season match in a row, as they beat the best players from South Korea’s top-flight 4-3 in Seoul.

Kulusevski, who started the game as Spurs’ centre-forward, opened the scoring before Son made his mark with a first-half brace. Both players looked sharp, often interchanging positions, albeit against weaker opposition.

Asked if Kulusevski could play as a number nine next season, Ange Postecoglou said:

“Well, look it’s the beauty of Deki [Kulusevski] is that he can play a number of positions. I mean, he mainly played on the wing for us last year but also had some games in central areas and I think he’s been really good this pre-season. With Richy [Richarlison] being injured we don’t really have another number nine there and he’s done a really good job for us.

“He’s a clever footballer, you know, he was involved in the goals tonight, apart from scoring and, yeah, he’s doing really well and, you know, for us, the fact that he can play two or three positions I think is, is going to be important.” – Ange Postecoglou on Dejan Kulusevski

In typical Tottenham style, there were quite a few shaky moments, however, with Spurs looking particularly vulnerable to counter-attacks after the break, conceding three.

That said, there were plenty of positives, not limited to Son and Kulusevski’s displays.

Pedro Porro (£5.5m) looked lively in an attacking full-back role, substitute James Maddison (£7.5m) hit the post in injury time, while Radu Dragusin (£4.5m) made his first appearance of pre-season after recently returning from his summer break.

Postecoglou also said he expects Destiny Udogie (£5.0m) to be back involved with the squad soon.

“I think he will be fine. It was just a knock. I think the important thing is everyone should have got through the game okay so it’s more minutes for the lads. It was good to get Radu some minutes as well. Hopefully Destiny comes back into it in the next few days.” – Ange Postecoglou

Tottenham Hotspur XI: Vicario (Austin 46); Porro (Spence 63), Royal (Dragusin 72), Davies (Devine 63), Donley (Abbott 63); Sarr (Skipp 46), Gray (Bissouma 46), Bergvall (Maddison 46); Johnson (Moore 63), Son (Werner 63), Kulusevski (Lankshear 63)

URAWA RED DIAMONDS 1-4 NEWCASTLE UNITED

Goals: Alexander Isak, Jacob Murphy x2, Lewis Hall

Assists: Joe Willock, Jamie Miley, Jacob Murphy

Alexander Isak scored his third goal in three pre-season games, as Newcastle United beat Urawa Red Diamonds 4-1 in Japan.

Isak’s shot from distance gave the Magpies an early lead, with his FPL ownership now up past 55%, making him the most-owned player in the game.

Given the summer off (Sweden did not qualify for Euro ’24), he looks physically sharp and ready to go.

“I thought he was very, very good tonight. He was electric, looked like he was hungry for goals. I think his game can go up [another level]. I think there are areas to improve. We’ll always find those percentages to try and add to his game. We work continuously with him, in partnership with him, really.

“We’ve got a really good relationship with him. We’re trying to find new ways to score more goals, or help the team in different ways. Really pleased with his application today.” – Eddie Howe on Alexander Isak

Jacob Murphy (£5.5m) also netted twice to continue his solid pre-season form, while a deflected Lewis Hall (£4.5m) effort later found the net.

If reports are to be believed, Newcastle are trying to sign a new right winger this summer, but it’s four goals in four pre-season games for Murphy, who is certainly staking a claim.

Left-winger Harvey Barnes (£6.5m) was heavily involved but less effective and really should have scored at least one of his chances.

Newcastle, who are still without England pair Kieran Trippier (£6.0m) and Anthony Gordon (£7.5m), impressed in the final-third, while Nick Pope (£5.0m) brilliantly saved a penalty and looked close to his best at the other end of the pitch.

Still, it wasn’t a perfect defensive display by any means, with the J-League side causing quite a few problems, despite the scoreline.

Dan Burn (£4.5m) featured as a centre-half in Japan, with Tino Livramento (£4.5m) and Hall operating as full-backs.

Newcastle United XI: Pope (Vlachodimos 62); Livramento (Harrison 71), Krafth, Burn (Heffernan 79), Hall; Longstaff (Miley 46), Willock (Almiron 46), Joelinton; Murphy (Turner-Cooke 71), Barnes (Sanusi 62), Isak (Parkinson 62)

OXFORD UNITED 2-0 SOUTHAMPTON

Southampton suffered their first defeat of pre-season on Wednesday, in a shaky display at Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium.

The Saints looked particularly uncomfortable playing out from the back, with first-choice goalkeeper Alex McCarthy (£4.5m) making several errors in possession.

Knocks to Sekou Mara (£5.0m) and Kamaldeen Sulemana (£5.0m) did admittedly disrupt their flow, while many of the usual starters were only introduced after the break, but the performance clearly irritated manager Russell Martin.

Speaking to the Daily Echo, he said:

“That annoyed me a little bit. We lacked feeling, energy, aggression, intensity, purpose, personality, character and joy in the first half. We lacked all of that. We didn’t lack good positions. We didn’t lack structure. We didn’t lack good detail. We just lacked energy and feeling. The only player that played with a little bit of joy, and gave a little bit of joy, was probably Sam Amo.

“I give the guys the benefit of the doubt because it’s pre-season. We’re three weeks in. They’re knackered. They’re playing with fatigue. The atmosphere is pre-season atmosphere. But like I said to you, we’ve got no time to rest and wait and find out. We need to bring our best version of ourselves every time.

“Tonight, [there was] no joy in the first 45 minutes. They did better in the first bit of the second half. And then the guys that came on were much better. [They were] more aggressive. We had actual chances. We should score a couple. Runs. Just energy. Feeling. Character, personality. So, yeah. We need to improve.” – Russell Martin

As above, Southampton did create a few chances – Carlos Alcaraz (£5.0m) fizzed a shot wide of the post, while substitute Adam Armstrong (£5.5m) missed a late one-on-one with Jamie Cumming.

However, they failed to truly test the Oxford shot-stopper.

New Saints signing Ben Brereton Diaz was in attendance but not involved on the pitch, meanwhile.

This weekend is another busy one for pre-season friendlies, with six more games to summarise here.

This set of Scout Notes takes in the matches from Saturday daytime.

Vissel Kobe 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur

Goals: Pedro Porro, Son Heung-min, Mikey Moore

Assists: Dejan Kulusevski, Brennan Johnson, Jamie Donley

More of the same from Ange-led Spurs, who score plenty and concede almost as many.

The Lilywhites’ head coach made a few tactical tweaks here, moving Son Heung-min (£10.0m) to the left (he led the line against QPR last weekend) and sticking Dejan Kulusevski (£6.5m) up front.

That was partly explained by not just Richarlison (£7.0m) being injured but Timo Werner (£6.5m) also falling to illness.

Nevertheless, Kulusevski – who has recaptured some form this month – did very well in an unusual role. It was his backheel that set up Pedro Porro (£5.5m) for Spurs’ opener, the right-back yet again popping up in an advanced position.

Son then scored from a Brennan Johnson (£6.5m) cross, the two having almost combined for a Johnson goal earlier.

“Sonny did well today. He scored playing left wing, he scored when he’s in the middle. There’s only one Sonny so I can only play him in one position. So depending on where we need him, we’ll play him there. He’s started pre-season really well and I’m pleased for him that he could get a goal.

“We played Deki through the middle like we did last year, but obviously with Richy out and Timo was unwell today, we were a little bit short in that front third.

“We’ve got a clear plan of what we need to do in this transfer period and that’s what we’re working towards and we know the areas we need to strengthen and the clear focus is on that.” – Ange Postecoglou

One positive you would say about Spurs is that most of their attackers (even the injured Richarlison) have had the summer off. Will they be fresher throughout the season than their counterparts at rival clubs and more in rhythm in Gameweek 1 as a result of more friendly appearances? Time will tell.

Porro is the only one of the regular back four to have featured in pre-season, however. Destiny Udogie (£5.0m) remains unfit, while Micky van de Ven (£4.5m) and Cristian Romero (£5.0m) had a delayed return from international duty.

A right-back and a central midfielder were the starting centre-halves here, which is far from ideal.

Tottenham Hotspur XI: Vicario (Austin 46); Porro (Spence 64), Royal (Phillips 64), Gray (Abbott 64), Davies (Donley 46); Sarr (Devine 64), Bissouma (Bergvall 46), Maddison (Skipp 46); Kulusevski (Lankshear 65), Son (Solomon 58), Johnson (Moore 58).

Hull City 0-2 Newcastle United

Goals: Isak, J Murphy

Assists: J Murphy, J Miley

Alexander Isak (£8.5m) made it two goals from two starts in pre-season with the opener at Hull.

The Swede prodded in a Jacob Murphy (£5.5m) cross, with the impressive winger then inadvertently adding a second when his low cross avoided any touch and trickled in.

So long as Isak avoids injury himself, a Gameweek 1 start looks assured after Eddie Howe provided the latest update on positional rival Callum Wilson (£7.0m).

“Callum had an injection in his back. Without going into too much detail on the injury, I think it was a bulge in his disc which needed treatment so he had that operation and I think he may miss the start of the season.

“But thankfully there are not too many games at the start – we’re week to week so hopefully he won’t miss too many.” – Eddie Howe

Meanwhile, Howe also revealed that England duo Anthony Gordon (£7.5m) and Kieran Trippier (£6.0m) would rejoin their club teammates after this week’s tour to Japan.

Fabian Schar (£5.5m) and Miguel Almiron (£6.0m) are already back with the group following their own international commitments. Sean Longstaff (£5.0m), Joe Willock (£5.0m) and Lloyd Kelly (£4.5m), not risked on Humberside, should be fit to travel to Asia.

Tino Livramento (£4.5m) made his first appearance of the summer, getting an hour at right-back. Another name we usually see at full-back, Lewis Hall (£4.5m), was used here in central midfield. It’s needs must at the moment with the number of absentees in the engine room, so we’re not anticipating an ‘OOP’ situation to develop.

Nick Pope (£5.0m) looked sharp, too, making one superb stop in the first half. A fully fit and firing Pope might be worth a few extra clean sheets for the Magpies this season.

Newcastle United XI: Pope (Vlachodimos 74), Livramento (A. Harrison 64), Krafth, Burn, Lewis (Munda 74), Hall (Charlton 85), Joelinton (Sanusi 64), J. Miley (Stanton 79), J. Murphy (Emerson 74), Isak (Parkinson 64), Barnes (Turner-Cooke 64).

Crawley Town 3-6 Crystal Palace

Goals: Edouard, Rak-Sakyi x2, Kamada, Ayew, Schlupp

Assists: Kamada, Edouard x2, Richards, Hughes

Goals galore for Palace, who admittedly were only facing some League One new boys. Still, Oliver Glasner’s side looked just as swaggering against the Premier League elite in 2023/24.

They didn’t need to do much to race into an early lead here, although their high press was to be commended. Two Crawley mistakes were punished by Odsonne Edouard (£5.5m) and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (£4.5m), with Edouard spurning two more chances from similar forced errors in the first half.

Daichi Kamada (£5.5m) added a third when dribbling around the home ‘keeper. Having started the last friendly in the engine room, he was here in the position we expect him to feature most in this season: attacking midfield. It’s the role Michael Olise vacated; big boots to fill but a decent enough start to his Eagles career.

Rak-Sakyi added another before the break, with both him and Edouard impressing. They’re both very much back-up choices in their respective positions, as their FPL prices betray. Keep an eye on a prospective move for Rak-Sakyi from Southampton, however: you won’t find many £4.5m midfielders more attacking than him.

Old Hodgson favourites Jordan Ayew (£5.5m) – again profiting from some kamikaze defending – and Jeffrey Schlupp (£5.0m) rounded off the Palace scoring after the break.

Palace got in on the own-foot-shooting, with Joachim Andersen (£4.5m) and Joel Ward (£4.5m) falling over in possession to present Crawley with their second and third goals.

Crystal Palace XI: Johnstone, Clyne, Richards (Holding 60), Andersen (Umeh 60), Riad (Ward 45), Mitchell, Hughes, Doucouré (Ahamada 45), Rak-Sakyi (Ayew 60), Edouard (Schlupp 60), Kamada (Ebiowei 85).

Salford City 2-1 Everton

Goal: Garner

Assist: Chermiti

Not the greatest-looking score on paper but some mitigation in the fact that Salford’s two goals were scored when many of Everton’s academy products were on the pitch.

The Toffees were also deprived of several key players through injury.

An entire backline of James Tarkowski (£5.0m), Vitalii Mykolenko (£4.5m), Jarrad Branthwaite (£5.0m) and Nathan Patterson (£4.5m) were absent again, while Jordan Pickford (£5.0m) is not yet back from the Euros.

Idrissa Gana Gueye (£5.0m) and new boy Iliman Ndiaye (£5.5m) were also missing.

“Tarky’s coming through things at the moment, so that’s good. Gana, we had to be careful with, but he’s coming through things and Myko’s the same.

“Ili is another knock, nothing too serious, so he should be back around it next week.

“Jarrad’s making steps forwards. He’s not ready yet. He won’t be back next week but should be after that.

“The main message is they are not serious injuries but at this stage of pre-season when they’ve done a lot of work we have to be careful, hence why we took the main group of players off here as they are getting fitter and stronger after a big week, which they have had.” – Sean Dyche

Absences can’t explain yet more wasteful finishing from the Everton attack, of course. Beto (£5.0m) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.0m), again used in a Burnley-style front two, were as profligate as ever. The Everton forward who has most impressed this summer is Youssef Chermiti (£5.0m), whose trickery here won the free-kick that James Garner (£5.0m) converted. Dyche does seem to have his ‘favourites’ more than most (eg Calvert-Lewin), so it remains to be seen just how much Chermiti has to do to force his way up the pecking order.

Dyche going with a strike partnership again meant Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.5m) in a deeper role, part of a central midfield two.

Everton XI: Virginia (Tyrer 60), Coleman (Dixon 46), Keane (Welch 60), Holgate (Onyango 60), Young (Campbell 46), Garner (Metcalfe 73), Doucoure (Iroegbunam 60), Harrison (Armstrong 60), McNeil (Okoronkwo 60), Calvert-Lewin (Maupay 60), Beto (Chermiti 46).

Ipswich Town 1-2 Fortuna Dusseldorf

Goal: Harness

Assist: Chaplin

Ipswich have problems in the wide areas with less than three weeks to go before the season starts.

Kieran McKenna revealed on Saturday that Nathan Broadhead (£5.0m), a regular in the promotion-winning season, is out for “a couple of months minimum” with a hamstring injury.

Ipswich were dealt a further blow when Wes Burns (£5.0m) limped out of the loss to Fortuna Dusseldorf. Further assessment is needed on him.

Omari Hutchinson (£5.5m), yet to feature since making his move permanent, is at least on the mend.

“Nathan is seeing a specialist with a hamstring injury. There’s no surgery required, which in many ways is a positive. It means that the recovery could hopefully be shorter, but it’s still going to be a couple of months minimum.

“Omari has a little niggle. He’s better today, so we’re hoping that he’ll train today and be involved with the games next weekend.

“Wes [Burns] rolled his ankle in a collision [v Fortuna Dusseldorf], so we’ll have to check on how he is.” – Kieran McKenna

Midfielder Cameron Humphreys (£4.5m), right-back Harry Clarke (£4.0m) and striker Ali Al-Hamadi (£5.0m) are “weeks” away, too. They likely wouldn’t have started in Gameweek 1 regardless.

The Tractor Boys’ opponents are two weeks ahead of Town in terms of pre-season, kicking off their Bundesliga II campaign next week. The extra sharpness showed at times.

Marcus Harness (£5.0m) came on for Burns and scored. A peripheral figure last season, he may get some early-season minutes if the winger crisis continues – but Ipswich will surely recruit soon in an area where they are sorely lacking. Jaden Philogene (£5.5m) was a target before he moved to Villa.

New signings Ari Muric (£4.5m), Ben Johnson (£4.0m), Jacob Greaves (£4.0m) and Liam Delap (£5.5m) all started. Johnson was again the conservative full-back, allowing hipster Fantasy favourite Leif Davis (£4.5m) his usual attacking freedom down the left.

“We wanted to put all four of the boys who haven’t played here before into the starting lineup today to get them acclimatised as soon as possible.

“We wanted to throw them all in today. We always knew that there were going to be little bits of understanding of wave-length issues, but that’s natural when players come in, so we’ll work on that.” – Kieran McKenna

Ipswich Town XI: Muric (Walton 46); Johnson (Barbrook 80), Edmundson (Woolfenden 46), Greaves (Burgess 46), Davis (Baggott 66); Morsy, Luongo (Ladapo 66); Burns (Harness 31), Chaplin (Ayinde 88), Taylor; Delap (Hirst 46)

Fulham 6-1 Watford

Goals: Lukic pen, Muniz, Iwobi, Jimenez, Stansfield, Pajaziti

Assists: Muniz, Iwobi, King, Wilson, Jimenez x2

Another behind-closed-doors friendly for Fulham and another one where no footage exists.

The Cottagers didn’t even provide the line-up information for the game, although the long list of scorers and assisters offers some clues.

Interestingly, Sasa Lukic (£5.0m) took a first-half spot-kick that had been won by Rodrigo Muniz (£6.0m). The expected departure of Willian – his contract is up and he hasn’t signed another – means there’s a penalty-taking role to be claimed at the Cottage. Of the current squad, Andreas Pereira (£5.5m) was the last to take one for Fulham almost two years ago. The Brazilian was presumably not involved on Saturday after his Copa America duties.

Lukic, by no means an assured starter, has actually taken penalties before for Torino in Italy.

Muniz did later get on the scoresheet after converting a pass from Alex Iwobi (£5.5m). The Nigerian then added a third before the break.

With Fantasy Premier League (FPL) live for 2024/25, we’ll be welcoming back our team of Hall of Famers and guest writers for the new campaign. Here, FPL Family’s Sam – who has five top 40k finishes in the last seven seasons – assesses the defensive options from her beloved Tottenham Hotspur.

It may come as a shock to read that the first thing I do when FPL goes live isn’t to look at the full list of Spurs prices! But after I have auto-picked, checked my team ID and added the premium picks, the pull of my girlhood club is too strong. I soon find myself staring at the player list to work out how I will invest. Owning Spurs’ players in FPL always gives me a special kind of thrill.

With Spurs’ attacking football under Ange Postecoglou, the likes of Son Heung–min (£10.0m), Brennan Johnson (£6.5m), James Maddison (£7.5m) and Richarlison (£7.0m) will probably be the ones that managers turn their attentions to.

However, for me, the real interest at Spurs this year could come in the form of a defender – even with a lack of clean sheets last season.

When the Premier League announced the five Spurs prices on Saturday evening, my attention was drawn to Pedro Porro (£5.5m), Guglielmo Vicario (£5.0m) and Destiny Udogie (£5.0m). Last season, Spurs kept just seven shut-outs, four of these coming in the opening nine Gameweeks. Of the defensive players on the books, only Cristian Romero (£5.0m), Porro and Vicario started all seven of those matches.

Over the course of the season, Spurs were injury and suspension hit at the back. Romero and Udogie were both sent off against Chelsea in Gameweek 11. Micky van de Ven‘s (£4.5m) injury in that match also meant he didn’t feature again until Gameweek 21. The lack of consistency in the Spurs’ defensive line-ups last season certainly didn’t help their fruitless pursuit of clean sheets. Indeed, the only ever-present was the goalkeeper.

The lack of clean sheets may well put many FPL managers off investing in the Lilywhites. I certainly understand why! However, with more consistency in the back four, or even back five if Postecoglou decides to play Radu Dragusin (£4.5m) alongside Romero and van de Ven, the defensive numbers should improve.

For FPL managers, there are some nice options at three different price points. Each of the Spurs defenders offers a form of attacking threat; it just depends on your available budget and which metric you want to back.

Attacking Numbers and Bonus Points

Above: Spurs players sorted by xGI in 2023/24

Pedro Porro

Only Alfie Doughty (12) registered more attacking returns than Porro (11) last season. In total in 2023/24, the Spaniard recorded three goals and eight assists. His 18 returns were only bettered by Arsenal trio Ben White (£6.5m), William Saliba (£6.0m) and Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.0m).

Porro was top for expected goal involvement (xGI) across the Spurs backline last time out with 8.98, not far behind striker Richarlison (£7.0m). Porro also had 12 shots on target, again top amongst the Lilywhites’ defenders. This, at first glance, appears positive for the new Bonus Points System (BPS). Indeed, it ranks him tied fourth across the defenders in the game.

Above: FPL defenders sorted by shots on target in 2023/24

However, these numbers are relatively low when compared to the attacking assets in FPL. So, the overall impact on the BPS metrics will be small, especially if Spurs fail to keep a clean sheet.

To counter this, though, Porro was already third for baseline BPS amongst the defenders last time out.

Porro registered 136 points in the game last season; again this was only bettered by the three from the other side of north London. All of this justifies Porro coming in at £0.5m more than Udogie and Romero.

Cristian Romero

With the international break finally behind us, attention turns to the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweek 30 Scout Picks.

With the international break finally behind us, attention turns to the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweek 30 Scout Picks.

The schedule for Double Gameweek 34 is now confirmed - and it's a big 'double', with Arsenal and Liverpool among seven sides playing twice.

The headlines from Saturday's three fixtures, including injury scares for Alfie Doughty and Rodrigo Muniz.

Spurs' one alteration for the Fulham game was pre-advertised by Ange Postecoglou in Friday's presser. Richarlison also returns to the squad.