PRE-SEASON HUB 2020/21
Introduction
Gone are the days of Premier League teams jetting off to China, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia for their pre-season preparations – at least for this pre-season. Here’s hoping things in the world are again on the right side of normal this time next season and I for one will never again take the Premier League Asia Trophy for granted.
In this shortened period between the 2019-20 season ending and the 2020-21 season beginning (consider that Manchester United & Manchester City players will not even be through passport control with their families as they head on holiday whilst Everton, Liverpool and Tottenham commence a stretch of their legs with their first pre-season matches), I will again document the ins and outs and ups and downs of all 20 Premier League teams pre-season on this article as we hurtle towards the new season.
Below is a guide to the matches CONFIRMED so far – there will be more. For instance, as you’ll see, there are clubs who have not yet announced any matches. Seeing as all games will be behind closed doors anyway, I would expect the clubs to be transparent about their matches, not least to let their own supporters know what’s going on and I’ll be there to take advantage.
As is the norm – if you feel comfortable in doing so – please record any and all pre-season news here under the relevant team comment. I’ll round up each day with anything missed relating to line-ups, goals, assists, injuries, playing positions etc.
You’ll find a comment relating to each of the 20 teams below.
25th August
MK Dons 1-4 Arsenal
29th August
Arsenal 1-1 (5-4 pens) Liverpool (Community Shield)
5th September
Arsenal 2-3 Aston Villa
5th September
Arsenal 2-3 Aston Villa
29th August
Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Chelsea
5th September
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-0 West Bromwich Albion
29th August
Burnley 1-2 Shrewsbury Town
Burnley 3-0 Tranmere Rovers
1st September
Burnley 0-0 Preston North End
5th September
Burnley 4-1 Heart of Midlothian
Burnley 4-2 Mansfield Town
29th August
Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Chelsea
25th August
Crystal Palace 2-1 Oxford United
29th August
Crystal Palace 3-0 Charlton Athletic
1st September
Millwall 0-1 Crystal Palace
5th September
Crystal Palace 1-1 Brondby
22nd August
Blackpool 3-3 Everton
5th September
Everton 2-0 Preston North End
29th August
Fulham 2-2 MK Dons
1st September
Stoke City 3-0 Leeds United
5th September
Leeds United 3-1 Pacos de Ferreira
26th August
Leicester City 2-0 Birmingham City
29th August
Leicester City 0-0 Sheffield Wednesday
5th September
Leicester City 1-1 Blackburn Rovers
22nd August
Liverpool 3-0 Stuttgart
25th August
Red Bull Salzburg 2-2 Liverpool
29th August
Arsenal 1-1 (5-4 pens) Liverpool (Community Shield)
5th September
Liverpool 7-2 Blackpool
25th August
Newcastle United 3-0 Crewe Alexandra
29th August
Barnsley 1-2 Newcastle United
1st September
Middlesbrough 5-1 Newcastle United
5th September
Newcastle United 0-1 Stoke City
25th August
Dundee United 0-1 Sheffield United (abandoned at half time)
28th August
Heart of Midlothian 0-1 Sheffield United
1st September
Sheffield United 2-0 Derby County
4th September
Sheffield United 2-2 Preston North End
Southampton 7-1 Swansea City
22nd August
Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Ipswich Town
28th August
Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 Reading
29th August
Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Birmingham City
5th September
Watford 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
28th August
West Bromwich Albion 0-1 Nottingham Forest
5th September
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-0 West Bromwich Albion
25th August
Ipswich Town 1-4 West Ham United
Wycombe Wanderers 1-5 West Ham United
29th August
West Ham United 2-1 Brentford
5th September
West Ham United 3-5 Bournemouth
Thanks for reading FANTASY FOOTBALL PRE-SEASON HUB 2020/21
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MANCHESTER UNITED
Aston Villa 1-0 Manchester United
Goal: Watkins,16’ (assisted by Trezeguet)
Teams news:
Villa: XI: Steer; Cash (72-Elmohamady), Konsa, Mings, Targett; Hourihane, Luiz, McGinn, Trezeguet (77-Jota), Watkins(66-Samatta), Grealish.
United: Henderson (75-Grant), Dalot (70-Williams), Fosu-Mensah, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay (45-Galbraith), Van de Beek, Lingard, Rashford (75-Elanga), James, Ighalo (61-Mengi).
To summarise: The usual combo of James being outmuscled, Shaw being late and Maguire being caught ball-watching and just too slow to react to Watkins’ movement led to Villa goal.
VDB, Trezeguet, Grealish decent
McTominay looked like one of United’s best player but replaced at HT (probably minor injury) which could mean VDB starts the season, as Fred and Matic are not training atm.
Maguire, Rashford, Ighalo poor.
United should have scored but missed many chances in the first half and got punished.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Newcastle United 1-0 Crewe Alexandra
1st Half Team
Andy Carroll (assist by Jamal Lascelles)
Second Half
Christian Atsu goal 47th min
Assisted by Dwight Gale
.
Newcastle United 3-0 Crewe Alexandra
Federico Fernandez (assisted by Dan Barlaser)
Newcastle United v Barnsley
Newcastle United 2-1 Barnsley
Goals
Andy Carroll (assisted by Matt Ritchie)
Jacob Murphy (penalty, won by himself)
Match Report:
https://www.nufc.co.uk/matches/first-team/2020-21/newcastle-united-v-barnsley/
Newcastle United 1-5 Middlesbrough
Goal:
Allan Saint-Maximin
Match Report:
https://www.nufc.co.uk/matches/first-team/2020-21/middlesbrough-v-newcastle-united/
Newcastle United v Stoke City
Newcastle United 0-1 Stoke City
https://www.nufc.co.uk/matches/first-team/2020-21/newcastle-united-v-stoke-city/
SHEFFIELD UNITED
Dundee United 0-1 Sheffield United
*Abandoned at half time – waterlogged*
Billy Sharp (assisted by Sander Berge)
Sharp also missed a pen in the 5th min, he hit the woodwork!
Heart of Midlothian 0-1 Sheffield United
Goal: John Fleck (assisted by Billy Sharp)
Match Report:
https://www.sufc.co.uk/matches/fixtures/first-team/202021/august/hearts-v-blades-20200828/
Sheffield United v Derby County
Sheffield United 2-0 Derby County
Goals:
Ben Osborne (unassisted)
Billy Sharp (assisted by Kean Bryan)
Match Report:
https://www.sufc.co.uk/matches/fixtures/first-team/202021/september/derby-v-blades-20200901/
Sheffield United v Preston North End
And a first half goal 😀
Sheffield United 2-2 Preston North End
Goals:
John Lundstram (assisted by Ben Osborn)
Billy Sharp (penalty, unassisted)
Match Report:
https://www.sufc.co.uk/matches/fixtures/first-team/202021/september/blades-v-preston-20200904/
SOUTHAMPTON
7-1 against Swansea, JWP and Ings with two each, Adams scoring too. Would be interesting to see if Ings and Adams lineup together.
Cheers mate. Yeah they did play together towards the end of last season.
Southampton 7-1 Swansea City.
Match played across four 30 minute quarters.
First Quarter
Che Adams (assisted by Ryan Bertrand)
Nathan Redmond (assisted by Che Adams)
Danny Ings (penalty, won by Stuart Armstrong)
Second Quarter
James Ward-Prowse (penalty, won by Nathan Redmond)
Ryan Bertrand (assisted by Nathan Redmond)
Danny Ings (assisted by Ryan Bertrand)
James Ward-Prowse (assisted by Danny Ings)
Third Quarter
No goals
Fourth Quarter
No goals
Match Report:
https://www.southamptonfc.com/news/2020-08-29/report-southampton-swansea-city-pre-season-friendly-st-marys-stadium-2020-21
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Spurs Lineup for 1st half:
No Dier or Aurier? Injured?
There’s a few missing – Sanchez, Bergwijn, Lo Celso, Ndombele, Lamela – I wouldn’t panic.
Yeah I noticed that. Was looking at Twitter and the only one people were asking about was Ndombele. Just couldn’t find any training news bar the fact Kane wasn’t there due to quarantine.
Sessegnon and Son 2-0 now
Scoreline 3-0 at half time (Sessgnon 1G, Son 2G, Alli 2A, Foyth 1A)
Tottenham half time substitutions
.
Joe Hart injured and doesn’t last half an hour!
Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Ipswich Town
Match report:
https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2020/august/ipswich-beaten-in-pre-season-opener/
A relatively strong starting 11 (minus those mentioned above) playing as a 352 with Sessegnon and Fernandes on the flanks and Winks and Hojbjerg shielding the back three. The attack did what was needed in order to have the game wrapped up by halftime at which point the kids came on.
I read a piece on Sessegnon yesterday and how he’s adapting to become a Mourinho player.
Insert your own joke here but I’m interested to see if he could make that left wingback position his.
He has really bulked up apparently as well. Certainly a possibility he could be great this year as has lots of ability
Tottenham Hotspur v Reading
HT: Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Reading
OG
Dele Alli (assist by Lucas Moura)
Son (assist by Steven Bergwijn)
Half time substitutions:
Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 Reading
OG
Dele Alli (assist by Lucas Moura)
Son (assist by Steven Bergwijn)
Erik Lamela
Match Report:
https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2020/august/reading-beaten-in-second-pre-season-match/
Full time
Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Birmingham City
Goal
Steven Bergwijn (possible no assist)
Match Report:
https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/fixtures/first-team/20202021/spurs-v-birmingham/
Tottenham Hotspur v Birmingham City
(First half team)
Tottenham Subs
Watford v Tottenham Hotspur
I don’t think Kane has played for Spurs in pre-season. Is that reason to consider going with Son instead? Hopefully he gets some gametime with England at least.
Watford 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Goal: Son (penalty, won by Erik Lamela)
Match Report
https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2020/september/watford-inflict-our-first-defeat-of-pre-season/
WEST BROMWICH ALBION
West Bromwich Albion v Nottingham Forest
West Bromwich Albion 0-1 Nottingham Forest
Match Report:
https://www.wba.co.uk/news/albion-begin-valuable-work-out
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-0 West Bromwich Albion
Match Report
https://www.wba.co.uk/news/albion-rock-solid-final-friendly