Eight things you might have missed as the 3 o’clock kick-offs return

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Saturday marked the full return of the Football League.

Two late winners in the matches preceding – Frank Lampard’s Derby on Friday and Sunderland early on Saturday – meant that excitement seemed guaranteed as competitive league football returned to our lives. But there were still also plenty of intriguing friendlies taking place.

So, as the world reverts to normal and 15:00 becomes the time for football, here are eight things you probably missed.

The curse of Bristol City

When the Championship fixtures were announced there was undoubtedly 23 nervous teams and that is because whoever has faced Bristol City on the opening weekend, in each of the last two seasons, has gone on to be relegated from the division.

Wigan Athletic (2016/17) and Barnsley (2017/18) were the victims losing 2-1 and 3-1 respectively. Nottingham Forest, paired with Lee Johnson’s men, will be hoping they don’t suffer the same fate after coming away with a point.

A false start

Joey Barton going into management caught many off guard. A controversial figure, the Liverpudlian was recently tasked with taking Fleetwood Town forward.

A solid pre-season – winning each of their four matches (including a 0-4 win at Salford City) – naturally raised expectation going into their League One opener against AFC Wimbledon in front of their supporters.

But it wasn’t meant to be as the visitors ran out 0-1 winners, courtesy of a Joe Pigott effort, leaving Barton with some thinking to do.

Maupay’s mission

Brentford made their intentions known after inflicting a crushing 5-1 defeat on Rotherham.

Opening the scoring, with four minutes on the clock, was French forward Neal Maupay who added one more as well as teeing up Ollie Watkins.

Edun leaves it late

Tayo Edun joined Ipswich on loan from Fulham on Friday, a day later he was the talk of the town.

Paul Hurst’s men had surrendered a one-goal lead and saw themselves staring at an opening day loss, in front of their home support, before Edun – on for the last 30 minutes – popped up and salvaged a point against the newly-promoted side.

No bounce in West Brom’s step

To say last season was a miserable one for West Brom is an understatement. Darren Moore, who brought a feelgood factor back to the Hawthorns, would have wanted a comfortable afternoon but fellow ex-Premier League side Bolton had other ideas.

Despite pegging their hosts back on the stroke of halftime, Harvey Barnes cancelling out Josh Magennis opener, it was yet another late show as Yanic Wildschut on debut gave Phil Parkinson’s side all three points, compounding more misery on The Baggies support in the process.

Marseille shooked

You can’t stress the importance of a good pre-season. Getting off to a good start, in a new league season, could ultimately prove to be the difference between enjoying a great campaign or not.

Bournemouth, who are now Premier League mainstays, are still anxious about their status and will do all they can under Eddie Howe to improve on last season’s 12th place finish.

So, in terms of preparation, there’s nothing better than going toe to toe with European royalty which Marseille – recent Europa League finalists – most certainly are.

However, the French giants were no match for The Cherries, who put no fewer than five goals past their guests on the English south coast.

What’s in a number?

Eyebrows were raised when Wolves unveiled their XI to face Villarreal in their last pre-season game before this season’s Premier League opener against Everton.

What caught many people’s attention wasn’t the composition of Nuno Espírito Santo’s team – in fact many expect the same eleven to line up against the Toffees – but the number worn by goalkeeper (and big summer acquisition) Rui Patricio.

The veteran ‘keeper donned the number 11 jersey, nominally worn by wingers, though there could be a sentimental reason behind it.

Wolves recently came to terms with Carl Ikeme’s sudden retirement, the Sutton Coldfield-born shot-stopper was diagnosed with acute leukaemia last summer, and in a mark of respect The Wanderers three goalies look to be wearing 11, 21 and 31.

#OneCarlIkeme was the hashtag used to celebrate the Wolves No.1’s career, so leaving his number vacant makes sense as an extension of that tribute, although nothing has been confirmed by the club.

Return of the Mitrovic

Fulham ahead of their Premier League return have been very active in the summer.

Survival is the name of the game and securing the permanent services of Serbian marksman Aleksandar Mitrovic, a revelation at Craven Cottage last season, could go a long way to ensuring that goal.

And speaking of goals, it took the 23-year-old just two minutes to open his account (on his unofficial re-debut) against Celta de Vigo, before setting up Aboubakar Kamara 14 minutes later in a game that ultimately ended 2-2.

Crystal Palace, who Fulham welcome next weekend, have been warned.

The post Eight things you might have missed as the 3 o’clock kick-offs return appeared first on Squawka News.



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