Manchester City played a draw against Barcelona in the pre-season friendly on the US tour with 2-2 in regular time, but the Premier League side got defeated in the penalty shootout with 4-1.
Jack Grealish (MID, 6.5m) and Nico O’Reilly scored the goals for the Premier League champions, Josko Gvardiol (DEF, 6.0m) and Mateo Kovacic (MID, 5.5m) provided assists in those goals.
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After his, it will be very hard to ignore the fact that Gvardiol again proved that he is a real goal threat as a defender, and for Grealish, we should continue to monitor the situation, as we see a midfielder who wants to get back on his track. Important to add, the head coach of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola got really impressed by ‘aggressive’ Grealish, as per the official club web site.
Problems for Erling Haaland?
There are big discussions among the Fantasy Premier League managers, and the question is, is Erling Haaland (FWD, 15.0m) a must-have for the new season, first, and maybe the most important—because of his price? He got early replaced in the match against Barcelona and did not play the second half.
We need to monitor the situation with the Norwegian international, as Guardiola obviously did not want to take risks with him. In this moment, Haaland is owned by almost 37% of the players in the Fantasy Premier League.
Guardiola on Haaland: “He had some niggles, he didn’t feel good and that’s why he didn’t play the second half.”
— Sam Lee (@SamLee) July 31, 2024
From the other matches in the pre-season, Everton got defeated 0-3 by Coventry, the new signing. Iliman Ndiaye (FWD, 5.5m) has played 45 minutes in this game, Dominic Calvert-Lewin (FWD, 6.0m) 60, Seamus Coleman (DEF, 4.5m), and Ashley Young (DEF, 4.5m) 75 minutes.
