Summer Series: What opening round will tell us

The first round of the inaugural Premier League Summer Series kicks off this weekend with the first three matches all taking place in Philadelphia, PA.

The tournament will be played across five different states down the East Coast over the next 10 days, and the first port of call, the Lincoln Financial Field in Philly, hosts Chelsea v Brighton & Hove Albion this Saturday before a double header on Sunday of Fulham v Brentford and Newcastle United v Aston Villa.

Pre-season friendlies don’t normally garner this much attention, but, offering the rare chance for Premier League clubs to face one another in preparation for the competition proper makes the Summer Series is worthy of deeper analysis.

Here’s what Alex Keble highlights what to look out for – the stories, the new signings, and the tactics – from the opening weekend of action:

Midfield mayhem may shed light on Poch project

As the first truly competitive friendly of Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure so far (after the 5-0 victory over Wrexham in Florida this week), Chelsea’s opener is an opportunity to discover what exactly the new era is going to look like.

There are a lot of question marks over this Chelsea team, which must adapt at breakneck speed to the tactical demands of the new manager during yet another dramatic overhaul of personnel. Granted, this is just an early friendly, but Pochettino will know from the Graham Potter situation last season of the desire to to hit the ground running. There is little time to lose.

Brighton are either formidable opponents or the perfect team to unleash the new era of hard-pressing, hard-running Chelsea. Roberto De Zerbi’s side are always tough to read, vulnerable to sudden defensive collapses but capable of devastating tactical traps and upsets, and of course a friendly – in the heat and with substitutes galore – only accentuates their unpredictability.

On the one hand, we have seen Brighton fall foul to bursts of creative energy. Their 4-1 defeat by Newcastle United and 5-1 home loss to Everton towards the end of last season were defined by sharp counter-attacks piercing through a defence caught too high up the pitch.

De Zerbi’s finely tuned system can be so intricate as to collapse like a deck of cards when one thing is askew, and this being Brighton’s first friendly of the season they could fall prey to Chelsea should Pochettino’s vision of counter-pressing and vertical attacking lines have already taken shape.

On the other hand, Brighton are clearly the more stable side at the moment and have a habit of taking big scalps. That’s because De Zerbi uses possession football to lure the opponent forward, using their pressing against them: the idea is to go around the on-rushing bodies and burst into space, something we saw relentlessly in matches against Liverpool (won 3-0), at Arsenal (won 3-0), and at home to Chelsea (won 4-1).

This latter scenario is more likely, not least because Brighton’s new goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen instantly improves the team’s capacity to pass out from the back.

“I am very pleased to have signed Bart,” De Zerbi has said. “He is used to playing a type of football similar to ours and he will have no problem fitting into our group.”

Certainly Verbruggen’s traditional goalkeeping attributes will be tested by two of Chelsea’s new signings, Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku. Given that Chelsea only scored 38 goals last season, their fans will be watching these two with great interest.

See: Who is Chelsea's new forward Christopher Nkunku?
See: Why Jackson can be a game-changer for Chelsea

But trumping all of these tactical nuggets is the battle for control in central midfield, an area of major concern for both clubs as we approach the halfway point in the transfer window.

Chelsea have allowed almost all of their central midfielders to go, leaving Conor Gallagher, Enzo Fernandez, and Carney Chukwuemeka as the only senior midfielders left in the squad – hence their widely reported pursuit of Brighton’s star man Moises Caicedo.

Caicedo has travelled with Brighton to the US, but among the most intriguing aspects of the Summer Series’ opener is whether he will make the pitch amid the speculation.

If he does not, with Alexis Mac Allister already departed for Liverpool, Brighton’s midfield may look almost as depleted as Chelsea’s.

New signing Mahmoud Dahoud should feature for the Seagulls, and with Pochettino’s ranks so light in the middle the former Borussia Dortmund midfielder has a chance to shine on his debut.

See: Who is Brighton's new midfielder Mahmoud Dahoud?

Brighton supporters might have wished for more incomings so far, but at least they know the setup and the vision. For Chelsea supporters who have been in the dark in this area, Saturday’s match is the first hope of illumination.

Tonali versus Torres could define this top-four encounter

There is growing belief that Newcastle and Villa will be direct rivals for fourth in the 2023/24 season, and so for Villa in particular their Summer Series opener is the chance to ruffle some feathers.

Yes, it’s only a friendly, but a significant performance would add to the sense of the club’s rise under Unai Emery and, just maybe, make a few at St James' Park feel nervous ahead of their meeting on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.

Not that Newcastle are unaware of Villa’s presence. A 3-0 win in April was proof that Emery’s side had closed the gap, because despite finishing 10 points behind Newcastle, Villa have been the better side in 2023. The league table from January 1 has Villa in second overall – and six points above Newcastle.

All eyes are on Sandro Tonali, the signing from AC Milan who goes head-to-head with Villa’s marquee addition Youri Tielemans.

Tonali already impressed on his first Newcastle appearance against Rangers this week, which was described as one of “high promise” by his manager.

“He was very good, calm and composed, as I know he is,”  Eddie Howe said after the match. “Everyone knows that English football is very different and a real change in style. Great signs from him, though, that he has taken it in his stride.”

See: How Tonali is emerging from the shadows of Italian greats

Playing this experienced Villa midfield will certainly be a sterner test of just how quickly Tonali can adapt from a more cautious and counter-acting style at Milan to possession-centric Newcastle in a fast-paced league.

And yet the real challenge for Tonali and Newcastle probably won’t be in a traditional midfield battle. Emery has signed centre-back Pau Torres to improve Villa’s distribution out from the back, and given Tonali’s tendency to ferret forward in search of the ball, the combination of these two players might lead to an exaggerated version of what we saw in Villa’s 3-0 victory in the spring.

As we highlighted at the time, Villa created numerous chances that match thanks to the positioning of John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey, who dipped infield – behind the Newcastle midfielders – to pick up the ball in dangerous pockets.

In a similar pattern this weekend, we may see Tonali, still adapting, rush out to meet Torres, who would cope well with the pressure and fire clever line-breaking passes through that gap in midfield and straight into the feet of Villa’s attackers.

We expect Tonali to be adventurous as an aggressive No 8 and Torres to improve Villa’s ability to progress the ball neatly out of defence. If these things happen, and if Howe has not learnt from the way Emery picked his team apart in April, then Villa could record a statement win – announcing themselves as worthy challengers for a UEFA Champions League place.

Striker dilemmas make for an uneasy opener

It has been a quiet summer for Brentford and Fulham – on the surface at least. Both clubs are hoping to build on impressive top-10 finishes last season and both will ease into their first friendly of the season without the pressure that hangs over most of the other Summer Series competitors, and yet neither is worry-free.

Brentford are without Ivan Toney for the first half of the season and must learn how to play without their talisman. Fulham, meanwhile, have the shadow of uncertainty over two of their key players, with reports of offers from Saudi Arabia for Aleksandar Mitrovic and from West Ham for Joao Palhinha being rejected.

Mitrovic has been selected in the Fulham squad but we do not yet know if he will be a starter, in light of reports that he is keen to move to Al Hilal.

There is a potential No 9 dilemma for both Fulham and Brentford, and one that threatens to harm their starts to the season – not to mention their pre-season preparations on the East Coast.

See: Can Schade seize a spot in Brentford's attack?

There were 10 goals in the two Premier League matches between these teams last season, the home side winning 3-2 at both the Gtech Community Stadium and Craven Cottage, and only three of those goals were scored by Toney or Mitrovic.

We can expect entertainment in Philadelphia, then, even if at this stage the long-term plans of both clubs are a little up in the air.

Words by Alex Keble.