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Prem and EFL Friendlies Review – 14th June

With the league returning after the season was suspended due to the coronavirus, we review friendlies played by Prem and EFL clubs.

Players are attempting to build up their fitness and get used to the behind-closed doors conditions they can expect for competitive action.

Footballers have made their own way to stadiums up and down the country whilst also in their kit.

Find out how teams got on and those hard to find results by scrolling below…

Cardiff 0-0 Swansea
Cardiff 1-1 Swansea

Two 80 minute sessions at Cardiff City Stadium finished as draw with the teams preparing for next weekend’s Football League restart.

Bluebirds boss Neil Harris revealed he and Swans head coach Steve Cooper were pleased with the intensity shown by the players involved in the exercise.

Both thought they were the perfect opponent for each other. Harris said: “Me and Steve were pleased with the output of the players in the game,” said Harris.

The Bluebirds boss explained the fixtures were “vital” to both clubs as they target the playoffs.

“Playing Swansea is about as close as we could have got to playing Leeds,” Harrisadded.

Cardiff had also played Cheltenham in a warm-up session during midweek.

“It was vital. Me and Steve spoke before the game,” said Harris.

“We know the intense rivalry, the importance of the rivalry and we know what it means to both clubs and both sets of supporters.

“But logistically we could only play Cheltenham, Swansea and Bristol City in friendlies.

“We have Bristol City coming up in a few weeks [in the Championship], it left us with Cheltenham and Swansea.

“You want to make the games as realistic as you possibly can. We have had such a short space of time to prepare.”

Swans head coach Steve Cooper said: “We needed the friendly that’s for sure. It’s been a long time coming playing what feels like a major match and putting kit on.

“Playing in the (empty) stadium is not quite as it is normally but certainly a step forward to getting ready for the season.

“Time is precious at the moment, you want to use every day as much as you can to get ready for the season. So playing Cardiff twice worked well.”

Chelsea 7-1 QPR

Billy Gilmour and Ruben Loftus-Cheek each scored twice, while Willian, Mason Mount and Olivier Giroud were all on the scoresheet.

Man Utd 1-2 West Brom (Game 1)

On Friday afternoon, the two sides played out two 60-minute friendlies at Old Trafford as they step up their respective preparations for the return of competitive football next week.

Bruno Fernandes scored a penalty before he later missed a second one and started alongside Paul Pogba in a strong central midfield.

A determined Baggies side hit back with goals from Matt Phillips and striker Kenneth Zohore to run out 2-1 winners.

This was the squad that lost 2-1: Romero, Bishop; Bailly, Tuanzebe, Mengi, Williams, Dalot, Fosu-Mensah; Matic, Pogba, Fernandes, Gomes; James, Greenwood, Rashford, Martial.

Man Utd 3-1 West Brom (Game 2)

Two hours later, United were the better side, midfielder Andreas Pereira scored twice before Kyle Edwards scored for Albion.

A late mistake from West Brom keeper Sam Johnstone saw substitute Tahith Chong make it 3-1 to United late on.

The United squad that beat West Brom 3-1 read as follows: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Lindelof, Shaw; Garner, Fred, McTominay, Pereira, Lingard, Chong, Mata; Ighalo.

Aston Villa 0-1 Leicester
Leicester 0-3 Aston Villa

Two friendlies were held between the pair on the 10th of June, one at Villa Park and the other at the King Power Stadium.

The Foxes say the game were to get use to a players’ ability play behind closed doors and ensuring they become match fit again.

At first no scores had been made public but reports have since suggested the King Power match saw Trezeguet among the scorers.

Aston Villa 2-2 West Brom

On the 7th of June, Villa twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with Albion in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Saturday.

Winger Kamil Grosicki made it 1-0 to the Baggies before Keinan Davis equalised for Villa.

Filip Krovinovic then got Albion back into the came, with Villa skipper Jack Grealish coming up with another leveller… and it was certainly a beauty

The game was also split into three 30-minute periods.

Arsenal 6-0 Charlton

The Gunners went in with a two-goal lead at the break against our Championship opponents, courtesy of strikes from Alex Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

The third goal came in less glamorous fashion, with Eddie Nketiah fastest to tap home in a second-half goalmouth scramble that came after a Dani Ceballos free-kick.

Nketiah found the net once more to get their fourth, converting a one-on-one, before then completing his hat-trick to make it 5-0.

Willock then got one for himself, according to www.arsenal.com, with a first-time strike that sent the ball into the top-left corner from the edge of the box.

Arsenal’s starting XI included Leno; Bellerin, Mustafi, David Luiz, Tierney; Guendouzi, Maitland-Niles; Nelson, Ozil, Aubameyang; Lacazette

Arsenal 2-3 Brentford

Brentford came from behind twice to beat the Premier League opposition on Wednesday afternoon in a behind closed doors clash against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal took the lead with just five minutes of the first half to go thanks to Joe Willock, who slotted home beyond David Raya.

The Championship side leveled the score on the 73th minute when Shandon Baptiste found Tariqe Fosu, who beat Sokratis before hitting high and beyond Martinez.

Four minutes later, Alexandre Lacazette took a touch before firing beyond Luke Daniels, to put Mikel Arteta’s side back into the lead.

Halil Dervişoğlu managed to find the bottom corner with his left foot to level the scores with 10 minutes remaining.

Baptiste’s effort beat Martinez, hit the post and ended up in the back of the net, to seal the victory for the Championship side.

Watford 2-0 Brentford

Brentford weren’t so lucky against the Hornets, losing 2-0 away in Hertfordshire.

The Bees were competitive throughout but were beaten as Étienne Capoue scored from long range in the first half and Ismaïla Sarr notched from much closer in at the end of the game.

Tottenham 1-2 Norwich

One fixture that was highly talked about was Norwich’s win over Tottenham.

The match was played in four 30-minute periods with massive substitutions and rotation, making it much more about fitness and feeling than competition.

All of Tottenham’s recently-injured players got extended minutes in the friendly, including Harry Kane, Son Heung-Min, Moussa Sissoko, and Steven Bergwijn.

Reading had to cancel the second match, and both Jose Mourinho and Norwich manager Daniel Farke retooled, opting to give everyone a chance to play in an extended 120-minute match instead.

After the game, Jose Mourinho gave a video interview for Spurs TV. He said: “[It was] a good training session. We needed minutes. We needed to know the feeling of playing here without our supporters.

“Today was much more about competing, minutes, competition, intensity. It was very important to do it this past week without any injuries because we all know that in these first matches, even with all the friendlies, there’s always a risk of getting a few injuries.

“We decided to mix [the teams] and to give almost the same amount of minutes to everyone. We didn’t want to bring players into the limits of fatigue, so nobody played all four periods because that would be too much. The last period we played some of the young boys. Even [George] Marsh who was playing for Leyton Orient but joined us for this period of preparation where we need numbers.

“We’re not going to have any more friendlies. We think it’d be good, but it’s too risky. So we’re going to do a normal preparation week starting on Monday and going through Friday. And after that two more days and we get West Ham, so the next ten days are going to be busy.

“We have to adapt to this new reality, which is what we tried to do today, which is a feeling of playing with an empty stadium. We have to think that the points are there to fight for and with fans, without fans, the points are on the pitch. Ourselves and United, we have to fight for them.”

OTHER FRIENDLY RESULTS THIS WEEK:

Chelsea 1-0 Reading
Reading 3-1 Portsmouth
Burnley 1-1 Preston
Liverpool 6-0 Blackburn
Southampton 3-2 Bristol City
Middlesbrough 1-5 Huddersfield
Newcastle 3-2 Middlesbrough
Newcastle 2-0 Hull
West Ham 4-1 QPR
West Ham 2-1 Crystal Palace
Sheff Utd 4-0 Hull
Sheff Utd 0-2 Barnsley
Wolves 0-2 Nottingham Forest
Birmingham 1-1 Wolves

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