There was a bumper lineup of pre-season games played out on Saturday that saw Chelsea falter at Ibrox, Bent hit a brace for Spurs and Lita rattle in a hat-trick for Reading. Get all the results, lineups, scorers and injury updates here…
Arsenal 2 Paris St Germain 1
Flamini and Bendtner were the scorers as Arsenal put themselves in a good position to reach the final of the first Emirates Cup tournament. They took the lead against the run of play on the stroke of half-tme when Flamini fired home after Bendtner chested a Clichy pass into his path. Bendtner himself, claimed the winner, poking home from a Denilson corner after his initial header was blocked. The Dane then missed a penalty in the closing stages after Hleb was brought down.
Adebayor, Walcott and Rosicky were all nursing knocks while Eduardo is still waiting for his work permit having had his intitial application refused. So Wenger went with van Persie and Bendtner up front and played without a natural wide midfielder, with Denilson and Fabregas operating in the middle, Diaby on the left and Flamini on the right. He changed things around in the second-half with Eboue once again, employed on the right of midfield and Hleb coming on to play just off the lone striker Bendtner.
Arsenal Lineup: Almunia, Senderos, Clichy (Randall 71), Toure (Gallas 46), Sagna (Hoyte 46), Denilson, Diaby, Fabregas (Traore 46), Flamini (Eboue 46), Van Persie (Hleb 46), Bendtner.
Rangers 2 Chelsea 0
Chelsea suffered their first defeat of pre-season, going down by two goals at Ibrox. Chelsea controlled the game but could not break the Rangers defence and the Scots capitalised with two late goals. Jose employed both a 4-4-2 and a 4-3-3 formation in this game, switching personnel throughout. The significant team news was the return of Ashley Cole who appeared at left-back after the hour mark and the fact that John Terry got a full 90-minutes suggesting that he is over his toe injury. Both now seem likely to step up training and appear in the Community Shield Final next weekend.
Chelsea Lineup: Cech (Cudicini 45), Johnson (Cole 62), Terry, Ben Haim, Diarra (Carvalho 45), J Cole (Mikel 46), Lampard, Sidwell, Malouda (Wright-Phillips 45), Shevchenko (Pizarro 45), Drogba (Sinclair 70)
Brighton 1 Reading 3
Leroy Lita stacked his claim for a starting role with a hat-trick at the Withdean Stadium. The Lita/Doyle partnership proved too much for Brighton, even after the League One side had taken the lead through a Duberry own goal. Lita scored the first by prodding home a Doyle’s cross, before Doyle again turned provider for Lita to tap home the second from a yard out. Lita then converted a penalty which Doyle had one to seal his hat-trick. Bobby Convey completed 45-minutes as he stepped up his pre-season after missing last season through injury. It was a strong Reading lineup, missing only new signing Cisse, Hannemann and Hunt who are all likely to figure a fortnight from now, injuries permitting.
Reading Lineup: Federici; Murty, Shorey, Duberry, Ingimarsson; Gunnarsson, Harper, Seol, Convey (Kitson 46); Doyle, Lita
Bohemians 0 Sunderland 1
Sunderland got back to winning ways thanks to a Stern John goal. John came off the bench to head home a Ross Wallace cross in the 78th minute. New signing McShane made his debut, playing alongside Nosworthy in the middle of the back four. Richardson also started his first match, playing in middle of midfield alongside Etuhu, while Chopra partnered Murphy up front. Wallace and Stokes formed a new partnership on Sunderland’s left side with Edwards and Halford on the right. Leadbitter and Varga were absent with knocks.
Sunderland Lineup: Fulop; Halford, Nosworthy, McShane, Wallace; Edwards, Richardson (Collins 76), Etuhu, Stokes (Whitehead 62); Murphy (Connolly 66), Chopra (John 73).
Halifax Town 0 Wigan 4
Heskey, Koumas and Aghahowa with a brace, were the scorers as Wigan overpowerd Halifax. Koumas impressed, scoring one from 25-yards and setting up Aghahowa for his first. Cotterill provided the cross for the Nigerian’s second to wrap things up with 8-minutes left on the clock. Hutchings gave a start to Kirkland in goal and Baines at left-back while he seems to have settled on his central defensive partnership of Bramble and Granqvist. Valencia caught the eye on the right of midfield while Landzaat partnered Scharner in the centre of midfield.
Wigan Lineup: Kirkland (Pollitt 46), Melchiot, Bramble, Granqvist, Baines (Kilbane 46), Valencia, Koumas (Moore 81), Landzaat, Scharner, Heksey (Cotterill 66), Folan (Aghahowa 46).
Southend United 1 West Ham 3
Ljungberg and Bellamy scored their first West Ham goals, which along with a strke by Zamora , were enough to give the Hammers a win at Southend. Skipper Lucas Neill made his first pre-season appearance for West Ham having returned from International duty with Australia. He played a part in the first goal, releasing Ljungberg to search out Zamora to score. Bellamy added the second after Bowyer’s header from an Etherington free kick struck the bar. Zamora then slid in Ljungberg after cutting out a short backpass.
West Ham Lineup: Green; Neill, Ferdinand, Gabbidon, McCartney; Ljungberg (Reid 72), Noble, Bowyer (Mullins 64), Etherington (Pantsil 78); Zamora (Cole 59), Bellamy.
Tranmere 0 Bolton 1
Bolton got back to winning ways after their defeat to Hibernian with 1-0 win at League One Tranmere. Vaz Te got the goal after good work by Diouf. Bolton welcomed back Nolan, Davies and Jaaskelainen to their lineup after the Hibs defeat, although Anelka was a notable absentee – rested due to a recurrence of a foot injury sustained in Korea last week. Aside from Anelka and possibly Speed, today’s lineup looks pretty close to the eleven that will take to the field for Bolton’s first Premiership clash with Newcastle. Vaz Te has had an impressive pre-season and could do enough to win himself a starting role on the left-wing.
Bolton Lineup: Jaaskelainen, Hunt (Guthrie 72), Samuel, Nolan, Meite, Cid, Diouf, McCann (Alonso 61), Helguson (Sinclair 61), Davies (Jamieson 84), Vaz Te.
Hibernian 1 Middlesbrough 0
Hibs claimed their second Premiership scalp of the week with a final minute goal to beat Southgate’s Boro side. Boro gave Luke Young his debut after his recent move from Charlton. He came in at his usual right-back position with with Davies moving to central defence alongside Wheater in the absence Pogatetz and Riggott who were nursing knee and foot injuries respectively. Rochemback, suspended for the first 3 matches of the season, was left out as Southgate looked to form the basis of his starting lineup. Boro adopted a 4-3-3, or a 4-3-1-2 formation with Yakubu leading the line up front flanked by Downing on the left and Tuncay Sanli on the right. Boateng, Arca and Morrison played in midfield, with Morrison playing a floating role at times.
Middlesbrough Lineup: Jones; Young (Hines 61), Taylor, Davies, Wheater, Sanli, Boateng (Kennedy 87), Arca, Yakubu (Craddock 84), Morrison (Euell 61), Downing (Cattermole 84)
Mansfield 2 Derby County 0
Derby stuttered at League Two Mansfield, going down 2-0. Billy Davies blooded recent new signings Price and Davis and made plenty of changes throughout, however, Andy Todd aside and barring new signings – the eleven that started this match appears to be pretty close to the likely lineup in two weeks time. Davies employed a 4-4-2 with a midfield of Teale wide on the right, Oakley and Jones in the centre and Pearson on the left. Up front, Earnshaw and Howard were again paired.
Derby Lineup: Bywater (Price 71), Mears, Leacock (Todd 45), Davis (Moore 45), McEveley, Teale (Beardsley 71), Oakley (Malcolm 71), Jones (Camara 61), Pearson, Earnshaw (Fagan 61), Howard (Macken 61)
Walsall 0 Birmingham 2
Mikael Forssell continued on the pre-season goal trail with another strike in this victory for Birmingham. Cameron Jerome hit the second goal. Forsell scored the first after just 4-mintues from a Jerome pass. He then netted the second himself, taking two attempts to convert a Larsson cross. Apparently the game was almost called off at half-time after a fire alarm triggered the announcer to press the button marked “match abandonedâ€. It wouldn’t have mattered too much – the second-half was uneventful, apart from a notable injury to Birmingham captain, Damien Johnson who was seen packing ice on a leg injury at the end.
Birmingham Lineup: Doyle(Taylor 45), Parnaby, Larsson, Kelly, Jaidi, Kapo, Muamba (Nafti 63), Johnson(Taylor 75), McSheffrey, Jerome(O’Connor 63), Forssell(Vine 63)
Orlando Pirates 0 Tottenham 3
Darren Bent hit his third and fourth pre-season goals as Spurs won the Vodacom Challenge Trophy in South Africa. They wrapped this game up in 22-minutes with Bent striking twice and setting up Berbatov for a goal along the way. The Bulgarian returned for this match having missed the first match against Orlando with a foot injury. Tanio meanwhile, figured in his first pre-season game after injury.
Tottenham Lineup: Robinson, Chimbonda, Stalteri, Dawson, Rocha, Malbranque (Maghoma 83), Zokora (Jenas 46), Huddlestone (Keane 57), Taarabt (Routledge 46), Bent (Defoe 46), Berbatov (Tainio 72).
Columbus Crew 1 Aston Villa 3
Goals from Young, Barry and Luke Moore sealed their second win in two games on their US tour. Young opened the scoring after just 8-minutes with an individual effort. Barry got the second after firing home a John Carew pass. Then Moore struck his fourth of the US tour, heading home from Berger’s corner.
Aston Villa Lineup: Taylor, Cahill, Mellberg, Laursen (Ridgewell 46), Bouma (O’Halloran 46), Barry (Gardner 46), Young (Berger 46), Reo-Coker (Petrov 46), Maloney (Harewood 57), Agbonlahor (Osbourne 72), Carew (Moore 46).