Marko Arnautovic gets his first minutes for West Ham in a defeat in Germany, while Leicester City’s drab pre-season continues with a goalless encounter at Milton Keynes.
Here are the notes from a low-key Friday.
Werder Bremen 1 West Ham United 0
Marko Arnautovic made his West Ham debut in a narrow loss to a German outfit they will face again today to conclude a two-legged Betway Cup affair.
The summer signing, fit again after a knee injury, played the final 30 minutes against Bremen and showed flashes of attacking threat from his position on the left-hand side of a front three.
Coach Slaven Bilic named a youthful starting XI, with six players aged no more than 21, while all seven of the substitutes he used are expected to start the second leg today.
Another likely to be given pitch-time will be Joe Hart. His rival for the keeper’s jersey, Adrian, played the full 90 minutes on Friday and distinguished himself with a fine double save in the second half.
Club captain Mark Noble lasted just over half an hour of the match before sustaining an ankle injury, while new signing Javier Hernandez played no part at all despite joining up with his new side’s training camp in Germany.
Bilic will hope the Mexican striker gets up to speed quickly as West Ham are currently desperately short of forward options following the sale of Ashley Fletcher, owned by 5.7% of Fantasy Premier League managers, to Middlesbrough.
The coach did, however, give an injury update on key attacking players Andy Carroll and Michail Antonio, who was used as a makeshift striker by the Croatian for some of last season.
“He (Antonio) is ahead of the plan. The plan is for him to miss the first game of the season. Andy is still not able to train with the team. I am frustrated he cannot play, now he is still injured and it is a big loss for us.”
West Ham XI: Adrian; Burke (Arnautovic, 60), Byram (Zabaleta, 60), Collins (Fonte, 60), Cresswell (Masuaku, 60); Cullen (Fernandes, 60), Holland (Snodgrass, 60), Makasi, Martinez (Ayew, 60), Noble (Obiang, 34), Rice.
MK Dons 0 Leicester City 0
Leicester City continued to underwhelm in front of goal with another toothless pre-season performance.
Having sneaked past Luton 1-0 in midweek, Craig Shakespeare’s men went one worse against MK Dons, although his side was picked with another friendly, at Wolves today, very much in mind.
Shakespeare trialled a 4-3-3 formation at Milton Keynes, welcoming back Demarai Gray and Ben Chilwell from extended breaks after their summer involvement with the England U21 side.
“We played a 4-3-3 with three midfielders. We tried to play with a sitter if you like and play through the centre. Matty James swapped with Vicente [Iborra] at half-time to get his fitness levels up.”
Summer signing Iborra again impressed in midfield, but fluffed a chance when put through during his spell playing in a more advanced position after the interval.
Gray has been tipped as a potential break-out player this season should Riyad Mahrez, as expected, leave the club, and he and Tom Lawrence played either side of Leonardo Ulloa up front for the Foxes.
Full-back Daniel Amartey was used at centre-half by Shakespeare, who chose to keep another new signing, keeper Eldin Jakupovic, on the bench as he made no substitutions during the match.
An entirely different City squad, including the majority of their more established stars, will head to Molineux to face Wolves this afternoon.
Leicester City XI: Hamer; Johnson, Benalouane, Amartey, Chilwell; Iborra, King, James; Lawrence, Gray, Ulloa.
Subs not used: Jakupovic, Elder, Ndukwu, Musa.
