The pre-season has shifted into gear over the past 48-hours as some of the Premier League’s top sides begun their preparatory campaigns. Showpiece matches could be found across the globe with venues ranging from the shores of Malaysia, the United States of America and a barren training ground pitch in Cobham.
Both Arsenal and Liverpool played in Asia yesterday with youngsters Aaron Ramsey and Andy Carroll putting in the first eye-catching performances of the summer. Meanwhile, over the Atlantic, Man United started their stateside tour against New England Revolution and came out on top thanks to the intervention of their bench-warming strike duo – Michael Owen and Federico Macheda.
West Brom are also in the US and their defensive fragility was on show again as they fell foul of an audacious 90 yard goal in a 2-1 defeat to San Jose Eathquakes – Jerome Thomas fetching the Baggies goal.
Chelsea continue their relentless pursuit of the Luka Modric but playmaker Yossi Benayoun issued a timely reminder of his flair and talent, impressing in a behind closed doors friendly with a sumptuous double-flick lob as the Blue saw off Wycombe by a 3-0 margin. Sunderland and Fulham also had fixtures this last week and Cottagers are in action again tonight as they take on Crusaders in their UEFA Europa League second round qualification tie.
A reminder that full details of all these games can be found in our Pre-Season Form Guide linked at the top of your page as we track the form of players and teams going into the big kick-off.
