{"id":1100756,"date":"2026-07-20T15:25:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1100756\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T15:25:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:25:39","slug":"fpl-pre-season-kostoulas-brace-chelsea-formation-hints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1100756\/","title":{"rendered":"FPL pre-season: Kostoulas brace + Chelsea formation hints"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On the final weekend of FIFA\u2019s 2026 World Cup, several Premier League teams found themselves playing pre-season friendlies.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some Scout Notes on <strong>Brighton and Hove Albion, Chelsea<\/strong> and <strong>Coventry City<\/strong> \u2013 although Xabi Alonso\u2019s Blues were behind closed doors, making their section particularly brief.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to check out our detailed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk\/fpl-2026-27-pre-season-minutes-goals-assists-tracker\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pre-Season Minutes Tracker<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n<p>BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION 4-1 Wycombe Wanderers<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"133\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/best-fixtures-from-fpl-gameweek-32-players-for-various-chip-strategies-5-300x133.jpg\" alt=\"Best fixtures from FPL Gameweek 32: Players for various chip strategies 4\" class=\"wp-image-163676\"  \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Goals:\u00a0<\/strong>Kostoulas (x2), Osman, Rutter<\/li>\n<li><strong>Assists:\u00a0<\/strong>Minteh, Osman, Keogh, Boscagli<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>First-half Brighton XI:<\/strong> McGill; Tasker, Simmonds, Struijk, Keogh; Baleba, Howell; Osman, Kostoulas, Minteh; Welbeck.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Second-half Brighton XI:<\/strong> Hall; Middleton, Barclay, Boscagli, Cashin; Yalcouye, Hinshelwood; Cozier-Duberry, Doyle, Watson; Rutter.<\/p>\n<p>NOTES<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Brighton began pre-season comfortably, thanks to two smart <strong>Charalampos Kostoulas<\/strong> finishes, an overhead kick from <strong>Ibrahim Osman<\/strong>, and a fourth goal that saw <strong>Oliver Boscagli<\/strong> get forward and whip a cross onto <strong>Georginio Rutter<\/strong>\u2018s head. The 19-year-old and highly rated Kostoulas was a \u00a35.0m forward last season, with his transition to English football managed very gradually. He should see more league starts this time around.<\/li>\n<li>First-teamers <strong>Danny Welbeck<\/strong>, <strong>Yankuba Minteh<\/strong> and <strong>Carlos Baleba <\/strong>started the match at the Seagulls\u2019 training ground.<\/li>\n<li>There were also 45 minutes for new centre-back signing <strong>Pascal Struijk<\/strong>. His pass to Minteh pre-assisted the first goal.<\/li>\n<li>As for 21-year-old Ghanaian Osman, he was bought over two years ago for \u00a316 million, subsequently spending time on loan at Feyenoord, Auxerre and Birmingham. Being involved in two first-half strikes shows promise.<\/li>\n<li>After the break, Fabian Hurzeler sent out a completely different XI. Familiar names included Boscagli, Rutter and <strong>Jack Hinshelwood<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Next up is a Saturday clash with Ligue 2 side FC Annecy, part of their private pre-season training camp.<\/li>\n<li>World Cup representatives like <strong>Pascal Gross<\/strong>, <strong>Diego Gomez<\/strong>, <strong>Ferdi Kadioglu<\/strong>, <strong>Maxim De Cuyper<\/strong> and <strong>Bart Verbruggen<\/strong> will soon be back from their post-tournament rest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>CHELSEA 3-1 Crawley Town<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"132\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/alonsos-first-chelsea-presser-palestra-back-five-jackson-more-2-300x132.jpg\" alt=\"Alonso's first Chelsea presser: Palestra, back five, Jackson + more\" class=\"wp-image-172089\"  \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Goals:\u00a0<\/strong>Gittens, Delap, Emegha<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>No starting XI information available<\/p>\n<p>NOTES<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Held at Chelsea\u2019s training ground, new boss Alonso was without plenty of World Cup representatives, such as <strong>Enzo Fernandez<\/strong> or <strong>Reece James<\/strong>. <\/li>\n<li>Instead, he gave minutes to youth talent such as <strong>Reggie Walsh<\/strong>, <strong>Reggie Watson<\/strong>, <strong>Genesis Antwi<\/strong> and <strong>Dastan Satpayev<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/kierangill_DM\/status\/2078518398573580604\" rel=\"nofollow\">It sounds like<\/a> the former Liverpool midfielder used a different second-half lineup.<\/li>\n<li>Of course, no confirmed lineup news means it\u2019s currently too early to identify Alonso\u2019s intended formation. Will it be the 3-4-2-1 that brought success at Bayer Leverkusen? The suggestions, actually, are <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/kierangill_DM\/status\/2078587046109597788\" rel=\"nofollow\">that he trialled a 4-2-3-1.<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Despite incorrect rumours of a 7-0 win over League Two Crawley, the Blues instead won 3-1.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s interesting to see centre-forward <strong>Emmanuel Emegha<\/strong> on the scoresheet. The 23-year-old arrives from partner club Strasbourg, where 26 goals took place across 65 Ligue 1 appearances.<\/li>\n<li>On Thursday, there\u2019ll be another private match versus Bromley, before the Blues fly to Australia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Northampton Town 0-0 COVENTRY CITY<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"203\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/can-lampards-arrival-improve-chelsea-players-in-fpl-2-300x203.jpg\" alt=\"Can Lampard's arrival improve Chelsea players in FPL? 1\" class=\"wp-image-100056\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Coventry XI (first half):<\/strong> Wilson; van Ewijk, Thomas, Perry, Bidwell; Torp, Grimes; Tchaouna, Eccles, Mason-Clark; Simms.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Coventry XI (second half):<\/strong> Wilson; Kesler-Hayden, Kitching, Latibeaudiere, Dasilva; Torp (Raphael 63\u2032), Onyeka; Sakamoto, Andrews, Markelo; Simms (Bassette 63\u2032).<\/p>\n<p>NOTES<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>After <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk\/2026\/07\/17\/fpl-pre-season-anthony-on-target-as-brentford-kick-off-friendlies\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">losing to AFC Wimbledon<\/a>, the Sky Blues had to experience a goalless draw at the Sixfields Stadium.<\/li>\n<li>New signing <strong>Loum Tchaouna<\/strong> got minutes on the right wing, linking up well with full-back <strong>Milan van Ewijk<\/strong>. Just before half-time, the latter put in a good cross that narrowly evaded <strong>Ephron Mason-Clark<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Frank Lampard made eight changes at the break, yet the likes of <strong>Jack Rudoni<\/strong>, <strong>Haji Wright<\/strong> and <strong>Brandon Thomas-Asante<\/strong> weren\u2019t around.<\/li>\n<li>A loanee made permanent, <strong>Frank Onyeka<\/strong> tried his luck from distance. Meanwhile, <strong>Raphael<\/strong> ran clean through on goal but could only produce a tame effort.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/FFScoutEditorial\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Fixture-Announcement-Graphic-Bruno.jpg\" alt=\"Premier League 2026\/27 fixtures released: FPL reaction\" class=\"wp-image-170294 webpexpress-processed\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the final weekend of FIFA\u2019s 2026 World Cup, several Premier League teams found themselves playing pre-season friendlies.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1100757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4100],"tags":[1169,885,26190,94,300507,99695,79,16,15],"class_list":["post-1100756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-brighton","tag-chelsea","tag-coventry","tag-football","tag-fpl-friendlies","tag-pre-season-friendlies","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116953004877087797","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1100756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1100756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1100757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1100756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1100756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1100756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}