There were more than a few friendlies played on Wednesday night including a United defat to Inter and a 7-0 hammering inflicted by Portsmouth. Sadly my ISP’s performance left a lot to be desired on the night which meant I couldn’t update you on all the details. Tonight though, they’re back on form to allow me to bring you all the details of these games, plus Arsenal’s victory over Lazio earlier today. Get the belated goodness here…

Stoke City 0 Aston Villa 2

Patrick Berger and Gabriel Agbonlahor sealed another win for Martin O’Neill’s men at Stoke. Berger culred a wonderful opener from Bouma’s crossfield pass. Agbonlahor used his pace to get on the end of a throughball to slot home the second. Craig Garnder, in particular, caught on the eye on the night.

Aston Villa Lineup: Taylor (Bevon 83), Gardner, Cahill, Bouma, O’Halloran, Petrov, Reo-Coker (Agbonlahor 46), Osbourne, Berger (Barry 46), Harewood (Young 56), Moore (Maloney 56).

Huddersfield 2 Blackburn Rovers 1

Blackburn slipped to a defeat at the hands of Huddersfield, snatching a late consolation goal from a Jason Roberts effort. Mark Hughes employed a 4-2-4 formation, pushing Rigters and Berner up front as attacking wide men. Berner limped off after 40 minutes to be replaced by Pedersen but even his arrival couldn’t help turn Blackburn’s possession and chances into goals. It was later revealed that Berner had broken a bone in his foot and he now faces at least 3-months on the sidelines. Roberts did salvage some pride at the very end, cutting in from the left to fire home but it was not enough. The Rovers lineup looked strong on the night with the back four likely to be the one that takes the field for the season opener. Rovers face the final friendly of the summer on Saturday against Preston when Friedal, Bentley and Pedersen are likely to return to the starting lineup. Santa Cruz is also odds on to be handed his debut alongside McCarthy.

Blackburn Lineup: Brown (Enckelman 46), Ooijer, Warnock, Nelsen (Khizanishvili 46), Samba (Henchoz 46), Tugay (Savage 60), Rigters (Derbyshire 60), Dunn (Mokoena 60), Berner (Pedersen 41), Gallagher (Bentley 70), McCarthy (Roberts 70).

Bolton 3 Espanyol 0

Bolton continued their impressive pre-season with a fine victory over Espanyol. Vaz Te headed the first from a Faye cross, then fired his second after getting on the end of a flick from Davies. Speed added the third late on after Espanyol made a meal of clearly an Anelka free kick effort. Vaz Te continues to push for a starting role and these goals, his third and fourth of the pre-season, won’t harm his cause. Bolton face Colchester on Saturday in their last friendly before taking on Newcastle on August 11.

Bolton Lineup: Jaaskelainen (Al-Habsi 46), Sinclair, Samuel (Jamieson 57), Faye (Alonso 46), Meite (Speed 58), Cid (Michalik 57), Guthrie (Nolan 46), Campo, Davies (Anelka 46), Diouf (Harsnayi 80), Vaz Te (Helguson 58 (McCann 85))

Crewe Alexandra 2 Derby 0

Derby’s indifferent pre-season continued with a defeat at League One Crewe. Billy Davies rotated in the palyers who sat out the 2-0 win over Forest with Howard lining up alongside Macken up front. Experienced centre-back and skipper for the night, Michael Johnson, limped off in the second half but there is no news on the extent of the injury as yet. Derby play Espanyol at home on Saturday in their last friendly before entertaining Portsmouth on August 11.

Derby Lineup: Price, Mears (Edworthy 76), Jackson, Malcolm, Leacock, Johnson (Addison 78), Mullan (Simmons 76), Jones, Howard, Macken, Holmes.

Shrewsbury Town 0 Man City 2

Corradi and Dickov got the goals that continued Sven’s successful summer. Corradi headed the first from a cross by Samaras. Corradi then set Dickov up for the second goal to seal the win. City gave a debut to Martin Petrov and he and Geovanni were particularly impressive for City on the night. City will face Valencia at home on Saturday and Sven has already remarked that his lineup for that match will be very close to his eventual lineup for the game against West Ham a week later. It’s likely that he will hand debuts to today’s new signings – Elano, Corluka and Garrido.

Man City Lineup 1st half: Schmeichel, Onuoha, Richards, Dunne, Sun, Geovanni, Johnson, Fernandes, Petrov, Ireland, Bianchi.

Man City 2nd half: Hart, D Mills, M Mills, Ball, Logan, Samaras, Miller (Vassell 78), Hamann, Dabo, Corradi, Dickov.

Manchester Utd 2 Internazionale 3

United lost their first pre-season game to their illustrious Italian opponents. An own goal and a strike from Rooney weren’t enough to save United in this five goal thriller played out in front of over 70,000. It was United who took the lead in the game with Rooney despatching Evra’s cross after a clever dummy from Giggs. They then fell 3-1 behind and although they pegged one back through an Adriano own goal, they could not restore parity. United put out a strong lineup but were without Anderson, Nani and Owen Hargreaves with knocks. United of course, take on Chelsea in the Community Shield Final although Sir Alex will also put a side out at Doncaster on Friday night.

Man United Lineup: Van der Sar; Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Eagles, Carrick, O’Shea; Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs.

Hull City 1 Newcastle 0

Newcastle blooded some youngsters for this trip to Hull and suffered a defeat by the odd goal. Martins, Ramage, Huntington, Nzogbia and Geremi added their first-team expereince to the lineup, with Geremi once again deployed in midfield. Newcastle now face Sampdoria on Sunday before travelling to Bolton for the season kick-off.

Newcastle Lineup: Harper, Ramage (Francis, 65), Edgar, Huntington, Lough, Pattison, Geremi (LuaLua, 54) N’Zogbia (Bertram 71), Carroll (Wiafe Danquah 78), Troisi (Doninger 65), Martins (Godsmark, 54)

Newport IoW 0 Portsmouth 7

Pompey showed no mercy to their non-league opponents, hammering seven past them including a pair of goals for new signing, David Nugent. O’Neil gave Pompey the lead from a Nugent assist then Hreidarsson added a second, heading home an O’Neil cross. O’Neil himself then curled in the third before Nugent opened his Portsmouth account with a delightful lob from a Lua Lua pass. The fifth arrived before half-time with Nugent slamming home his second. Portsmouth relaxed a little in the second-half but added another through Cranie’s header from a Songo’o cross. The provider of that goal then scored one of his own to wrap up an emphatic win. Pompey now visit Leicester on Saturday for their last friendly. Muntari, James, Distin and Campbell are all expected to return. However Utaka and Kranjcar are both nursing ankle injuries while Stefanovic is out with a groin injury. Portsmouth also have injuries to Davis and Hughes who are struggling with knee and hamstring injuries respectively.

Portsmouth Lineup: Ashdown (Begovic 46), Cranie, O’Brien (Pamarot 46), Traore, Hreidarsson, Songo’o, O’Neil, Mvuemba, Taylor, Lua Lua, Nugent.

Galway United 0 Sunderland 4

Roy Keane’s men stepped up a gear with this victory that inculded a first goals in Sunderland colours for new signings Michael Chopra and Kieron Richardson. Chopra got his goal as early as the sixth minute while Richardson got off the mark after the restart. Connolly and John added late goals to wrap up the win. Ross Wallace again started at left-back and Ethuhu continued in midfield. Carlos Edwards was missing with a groin injury.

Sunderland Lineup: Fulop (Ward 78), Halford (Kay 57), Nosworthy (Varga 60), McShane (Anderson 60), Wallace, Stokes (Donoghue 71), Whitehead (Leadbitter 64), Etuhu (Yorke 46), Richardson (Collins 60), Chopra (Connolly 59), Murphy (John 64).

Leyton Orient 2 Tottenham 4

The Spurs forward line did the business at Orient with goals from Defoe and Bent , while Keane chipped in with a brace. Spurs went behind early on, only for Keane to equalise from a Malbranque centre. The Irishman then added a second from the spot after Kabuol was brought down. Keane then set up Defoe for the third. Before Defoe slotted in Bent to finish the game off with the fourth goal. Jol went with a diamond formation for this game with Huddlestone sitting deep and Keane playing behind Berbatov and Bent. Jenas and Malbranque were deployed wide. Spurs play host to Torino on Saturday and it will be interesting to see if Jol keeps faith with the diamond. If Keane does start behind the front two, then Bent’s stock will certainly rise.

Tottenham Lineup: Robinson (Cerny, 46), Ifil, Stalteri, Dawson (Rocha, 72), Kaboul, Huddlestone, Jenas (O’Hara, 72), Malbranque (Routledge, 46), Keane (Taarabt, 61), Berbatov (Defoe, 46), Bent.

Lazio 1 Arsenal 2

A first goal for Eduardo Da Silva won Arsenal this first Amsterdam tournament clash. The Brazilian headed home from Rosicky’s corner. That goal added to Bendtner’s opener. Wenger toyed with the formation once more. Traore played left-back with Clichy in front of him. Song was moved to central midfield. Eboue also played in midfield once more, appearing for Walcott after the hour mark. Arsenal now face Ajax in the final match of the tournament on Saturday.

Arsenal Lineup: Almunia, Senderos, Clichy (Rosicky 46), Hoyte, Djourou, Traore, Song (Toure 72), Fabregas (Flamini 46), Walcott (Eboue 65), Bendtner (van Persie 64), Da Silva.