Club football is in full swing and we have a pre-season friendlies review look at how the Premier League sides are getting on.
Players are starting to get back in shape for the beginning of the new campaign. Depending on the club, they head to places with better climatic conditions than at home to ease the players in, or to places with harsher climates so the players could hit the ground running when the season kicks in.
It also gives managers the opportunity to blend new players into the team, try out different tactics or help players adapt to a new manager and his techniques.
Commercial aspects for top flight sides can be the main reason for the tours. The team is in a place where they want to increase the fanbase, regardless of the climate and/or conditions and made to play high-profile friendlies which are of absolutely no use, as the only purpose they fulfil is filling the stadiums. Despite the torrential rain, bad condition of the pitch, efforts were made till the last minute to make sure the match happened.
Right, time to take a look at the Premier League pre-season friendlies review…
Wolves 3-0 Leipzig
Leipzig | Vandevoot (Gulasci 45), Simakan, Orban, Elmas, Haidara, Openda (Sesko 62), Seiwald (Schobler 62), Klostermann (Sakir 53), Silva (Poulsen 62), Gebel, Voufack.
Unused subs | Bitshiabu, Ouedraogo, Zingerle, Jatta, Norbye, Ramsak, Bungi, Schuldes, Osawe.
Wolves | Bentley (Sa 68), Doherty (Semedo 68), Mosquera (S Bueno 77), Toti (H Bueno 77), Ait-Nouri, Lemina (Doyle 45), Bellegarde (Gomes 68), Sarabia (Neto 68), R Gomes (Chiquinho 77), Hwang (Guedes 77), Strand Larsen.
Unused subs | King, Dawson, Chirewa, Cundle, Lima, Rawlings.
Wolves boss Gary O’Neil said post-match: “My only disappointment was that we slightly lost our way and we’ve worked hard on that during pre-season, and I was hoping we might be able to fix it without my intervention at half-time, but we are early in the process and once we discussed it in the dressing room, the lads were able to solve a lot of it themselves. We went out for the second half and were better in our build-up phase.
“Out of possession we were excellent all night, I thought the pressing was good, the defending was good, some of the emergency defending from Toti and Yerson was excellent. A pleasing performance. It’s nice to win, but it is just pre-season.
“We were trying to make sure we get ourselves in a good spot. Leipzig had made a few changes, but it was a good performance, a good win and a great way to finish the trip. I’m looking forward to getting back to England and playing Vallecano the weekend before the Premier League starts.”
The whole possession building up to the 3rd goal vs RB Leipzig 🫢 #wwfc #WolvesInTheUSA pic.twitter.com/i3iTSnN1iX
— Baltimore Wolves (@BaltimoreWolves) August 4, 2024
Man Utd 0-3 Liverpool
United: Onana; Wan-Bissaka (Scanlon 83), Lindelof (Bennett 46), Evans (Fish 46, Oyedele 73), Amass (Murray 73); Casemiro (c), Collyer (Eriksen 63); Amad (Antony 63), Mount (Wheatley 63), Rashford (McTominay 46); Sancho (Mather 73).
Subs not used: Heaton, Vitek, Fletcher, Hannibal.
Bookings: Fish.
Liverpool: Kelleher (Jaros 46); Bradley (Stephenson 73), Konate (van den Berg 46), Quansah, Tsimikas (Chambers 66); Jones (Nyoni 60), Gravenberch, Elliott; Salah (Phillips 66), Jota (Blair 66), Carvalho (Doak 66).
Subs not used: Endo, Bajcetic, Morton.
Goals: Carvalho 10, Jones 36, Tsimikas 61.
Attendance: 77,559.
Slot – On being pleased with plenty of aspects of Liverpool’s performance… “Yes, I was – but not with all of them. We are very happy with the result, we scored some really nice goals. But I don’t think we had enough control over the game because United were threatening us more than a few times. It’s a 3-0 win but the score could have been different tonight as well.”
Slot – On the tour… “Very positive, I think. Of course the results, that’s where everybody is looking at. But players stayed fit and they are able to perform in the way we want, so [a] high-intensity game. We saw some great goals during this tour, some great build-up situations and I see them working really, really hard not to concede. Like I said, today I think we gave away too many chances, United deserved more than a 3-0 loss. But it’s also our quality that we do score our own chances.”
TEN HAG ON POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES – “There were mixed feelings, I would say. I think I have seen positive bits, but the way we concede goals, we are, of course, not happy with it. Of course, Liverpool are a very good side. They are very aggressive, and they have lots of goalscoring abilities, so they did very well. But the way we conceded, we are not happy with it.”
TEN HAG ON EFFICIENCY THE DIFFERENCE – “As I said, I think there were good bits, and the first goal is always very important. I thought Liverpool played very well, but they were also very efficient.”
The action from South Carolina as we picked up a third and final win in the US 🙌 pic.twitter.com/b37jt9gyeO
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) August 4, 2024
Bayern Munich 2-1 Tottenham
FC Bayern: Neuer (Ulreich 46), Min-Jae (Dier 55), Kimmich (Goretzka 46), Gnabry (Licina 46), Guerreiro (Aznou 55), Boey (Mazraoui 68), Muller (Laimer 46), Tel (Irankunda 68), Stanisic (Aseko 81), Pavlovic (Palhinha 46), Vidovic (Bryan 46). Substitutes (not used): Schmitt, Fernandez.
Spurs: Vicario (Austin 75), Pedro Porro (Abbott 79), Dragusin (Bissouma 46), Davies (Skipp 64), Spence (Donley 64), Sarr (Devine 64), Gray (Royal 46), Maddison (Bergvall 46), Kulusevski (Lankshear 75), Son (c) (Werner 75), Johnson (Moore 75). Substitutes (not used), Gunter, Whiteman, Hall, Solomon, Veliz, Scarlett.
Goals: FC Bayern – Vidovic 4, Goreztka 56; Spurs – Pedro Porro 66.
Yellow cards: FC Bayern – Goreztka; Spurs – Spence.
Referee: Dae-Yong Kim.
Venue: Seoul World Cup Stadium, South Korea.
Attendance: 63,496.
Ange Postecoglou: “The really important thing for us was that we got 10 days of really solid training. I think the guys will feel the benefits of it when we get back. To train that much in this weather, I know from my time here [in Asia] that it’s physically and mentally draining. When we get back we’ll have a two-week period to freshen them up.”
Yokohama F Marinos 2-0 Newcastle
Newcastle United: Odysseas Vlachodimos (Nick Pope 46); Tino Livramento (Harrison Ashby 46), Fabian Schär (Emil Krafth 46), Lloyd Kelly (Dan Burn 46), Lewis Hall (Jamal Lewis 64); Sean Longstaff, Bruno Guimarães (Jacob Murphy 46), Joelinton (Alfie Harrison 64); Miguel Almirón, Alexander Isak (Ben Parkinson 46), Harvey Barnes (Trevan Sanusi 46 (Jay Turner-Cooke 88)).
Subs not used: John Ruddy, Cathal Heffernan, Jamie Miley.
Howe: “We’ll be pleased to get back on home soil and the double-header at the weekend will be really good for us. It [pre-season] has gone by in a flash. You think you have time but you never think you have enough time for the season ahead. This season has been different to others because we’ve had players coming back at different stages. We’re still not at the full complement of players, so looking forward to getting the full strength of the players back and get ready for Southampton.”
Millwall 0-1 Southampton
Millwall: Jensen, Hutchinson (C ) (Harding 45), Cooper, Bradshaw (Langstaff 74), Bryan, Leonard (McNamara 86), Watmore (Emakhu 74), Saville (Massey 86), De Norre, Esse, Honeyman (Nisbet 80).
Saints: McCarthy, Sugawara (Bree 80), Harwood-Bellis (Edwards 80), Bednarek (Wood 45), Taylor (Manning 45), Stephens (C ) (Amo-Ameyaw 60), Downes (Charles 80), Smallbone (Robinson 80), Edozie (Dibling 69), Aribo (Alcaraz 80), Armstrong (Brereton Díaz 69).
Goals: Armstrong (64)
Referee: Gavin Ward.
Martin: “I was really pleased. We should have scored a few more goals, we limited them to very little and saw some really good stuff that was much better in terms of character and personality and aggression. I really enjoyed the aggression of the team today, so it was much better than Wednesday [when Southampton lost 2-0 at Oxford].”
Watford 1-1 Brentford
Watford: Bachmann, Pollock, Sierralta, Porteous, Sissoko, Andrews, Dele-Bashiru (Louza 88), Ngakia (Sema 60), Kayembe, Chakvetadze (Ince 75), Bayo (Baah 75)
Subs not used: Bond, Marriott, Clarridge, Morris, Vata, Rajovic
Brentford: Flekken (Cox HT); Trevitt (Yarmoliuk HT), Ji-soo (Zanka HT), Collins, Ajer (McManus 64); Nørgaard (Onyeka 64), Jensen (Konak 77), Damsgaard (Yogane 77); Schade (Peart-Harris 64), Mbeumo (Morgan 77), Wissa
Subs not used: Valdimarsson, Owen, Headman
Thomas Frank: “We looked much more sharp. I really like Kevin [Schade]. He is such a threat and we really utilised that throughout the game and scored a great header. Bryan was much tidier and sharper today and also his reaction in the counter-press and also Wissa found better positions on the pitch in terms of running in behind.”
Queens Park Rangers 0-1 Brighton
QPR: Nardi, Dunne, Cook (Morrison 72), Clarke-Salter, Paal, Field, Colback (Dixon-Bonner 72), Smyth (Lloyd 78), Andersen (Santos 78), Kolli (Frey 63), Celar (Bennie 78).
Subs not used: Walsh, Tuck, Morgan, Talla.
Brighton: Steele, Veltman, van Hecke (Weir 74), Webster (Samuels 74), Baleba (Wieffer 62), Ayari (Cozier-Duberry 74), Milner (Osman 62), Minteh (Osman 74), Sarmiento (Moran 74), Mitoma (Hinshelwood 62), Welbeck (O’Mahony 74).
On the bench: Rushworth, Cahill, Osman Yalcouye, Wieffer, Peupion, Cozier-Duberry, Moran, Weir, Buonanotte, Hinshelwood, Samuels, O’Mahony.
Hurzeler: “We worked very well against the ball. There was not a clear chance for our opponent and that was our goal for this game. That we worked together, that we worked out of a compactness, that we have clear press signals. We are not where we want to be, but it was a good step forward and we keep going.”
Preston 0-3 Everton
Preston line-up: Cornell; Whatmough, Lindsay (Storey, 71), Hughes; Potts (T.Mawene, 87), Whiteman (N.Mawene, 87), Ledson (Thórdarson, 71), Brady (Best, 81); Greenwood (Osmajić, 71), Frøkjær (Riis, 45); Keane (Holmes, 81). Subs: Pradic, Pasiek.
Everton: Virginia, Young (76′ Dixon), Tarkowski (46′ O’Brien), Keane (46′ Holgate), Mykolenko (46′ Campbell), Gana (58′ Armstrong), Iroegbunam, Harrison (83′ Metcalfe), McNeil (71′ Ndiaye), Lindstrøm (71′ Maupay), Calvert-Lewin (71′ Beto)
Subs not Used: Crellin, Tyrer.
Referee: Mr A Backhouse.
Attendance: 12,337 (5,724 Everton fans).
Dyche: “A much better show, a much better feel about the performance. I’m really pleased for the new lads, getting two different types of goals. Dom [Calvert-Lewin] was looking sharp. A lot of good habits on show today.”
West Ham 1-3 Crystal Palace
West Ham United: Fabiański, Coufal (Kodua 81), Mavropanos, Kilman, Cresswell © (Luis Guilherme 64), Emerson (Earthy 74), Potts (Aguerd HT), Ward-Prowse, Souček (Irving 81), Kudus, Antonio (Marshall 64)
Subs not used: Herrick (GK), Robinson, Casey, Orford, Kelly, Scarles
Goal: Antonio 21
Booked: Souček, Aguerd
Crystal Palace: Henderson, Mitchell, Andersen ©, Riad, Richards, Clyne, Hughes, Kamada, Schlupp (Umeh, 85), Edouard (Mathurin, 85), Ayew (Rodney, 85)
Subs not used: Matthews (GK), Rak-Sakyi, Devenny
Goals: Mitchell 1, Schlupp 66, Edouard 69
Booked: Andersen
Referee: Rosendo Mendoza
Hoffenheim 0-1 Ipswich
Town: Muric (Walton, 76), Johnson (Tuanzebe, 46), Woolfenden (Edmundson, 46), Greaves (Burgess, 46), Davis (Townsend, 62), Morsy (C) (Luongo, 46), Taylor (Carr, 74), Harness (Ayinde, 84), Chaplin (Foyo, 84), Hutchinson (Burns, 46), Delap (Ladapo, 62).
McKenna: “It’s two weeks to go now, so when the players come in next week, they’ll be really excited knowing that we’ve got a really good friendly at Portman Road, the last one before the league starts. We can really look down to the run-in to Liverpool. It’s an exciting challenge to come.”
Club-by-club matches
Arsenal
20 July – Arsenal XI 2-0 Leyton Orient
25 July – Arsenal 1-1 AFC Bournemouth (Arsenal win 5-4 on pens)
28 July – Arsenal 2-1 Man Utd
1 Aug – Liverpool 2-1 Arsenal
7 Aug v Bayer Leverkusen (H)
11 Aug v Lyon (H)
Aston Villa
17 July – Walsall 0-3 Aston Villa
20 July – Spartak Trnava 0-3 Aston Villa
28 July – Columbus Crew 4-1 Aston Villa
31 July – RB Leipzig 2-0 Aston Villa
3 Aug – Aston Villa 0-1 Club America (Chicago)
7 Aug v Athletic Bilbao (Walsall)
10 Aug v Borussia Dortmund (A)
Bournemouth
21 July – AFC Bournemouth 1-1 Wrexham
25 July – Arsenal 1-1 AFC Bournemouth (Arsenal win 5-4 on pens)
4 Aug v Rayo Vallecano (Vitality Stadium)
10 Aug v Girona (Vitality Stadium)
Brentford
20 July – Wimbledon 2-5 Brentford
25 July – Benfica 1-1 Brentford
30 July – Estrela da Amadora 3-1 Brentford (behind closed doors)
3 Aug – Watford 1-1 Brentford
9 Aug v Wolfsburg (H)
Brighton & Hove Albion
24 July – Kashima Antlers 1-5 Brighton
28 July – Tokyo Verdy 2-4 Brighton
10 Aug v Villarreal (H)
Chelsea
25 July – Chelsea 2-2 Wrexham
27 July – Chelsea 1-4 Celtic
1 Aug – Chelsea 3-0 Club America
3 Aug – Man City 4-2 Chelsea
7 Aug v Real Madrid (Charlotte)
11 Aug v Inter Milan (H)
Crystal Palace
6 July – Crystal Palace beat Sutton United
19 July – Crystal Palace 1-1 Charlton
27 July – Crawley Town 3-6 Crystal Palace
31 July – Crystal Palace 3-1 Wolves
3 Aug – West Ham 1-3 Crystal Palace
11 Aug v Nantes (H)
Everton
19 July – Sligo Rovers 3-3 Everton
27 July – Salford 2-1 Everton
30 July – Coventry 3-0 Everton
3 Aug – Preston 0-3 Everton
10 Aug v AS Roma (H)
Fulham
24 July – Fulham 4-0 QPR
27 July – Fulham 6-1 Watford
2 Aug – Benfica 0-1 Fulham
5 Aug v Sevilla (Algarve)
10 Aug v Hoffenheim (Sinsheim)
Ipswich
20 July – Shakhtar Donetsk 0-1 Ipswich Town
27 July – Ipswich 1-2 Fortuna Dusseldorf
2 Aug v Borussia Monchengladbach (A) CANCELLED
3 Aug – Hoffenheim 0-1 Ipswich
Leicester
20 July – Leicester 2-1 Villarreal
23 July – Shrewsbury Town 1-2 Leicester
26 July – Leicester 0-1 Palermo
3 Aug – Augsburg 0-1 Leicester
10 Aug v Lens (A)
Liverpool
19 July – Liverpool 0-1 Preston
27 July – Liverpool 1-0 Real Betis
1 Aug – Liverpool 2-1 Arsenal
4 Aug – Man Utd 0-3 Liverpool
11 Aug v Sevilla (H)
Man City
24 July – Man City 3-4 Celtic
27 July – Man City 2-3 AC Milan
31 July – Man City 2-2 Barcelona (1-4p)
3 Aug – Man City 4-2 Chelsea
Man Utd
15 July – Rosenborg 1-0 Man Utd
20 July – Rangers 0-2 Man Utd
28 July – Arsenal 2-1 Man Utd
1 Aug – Man Utd 3-2 Real Betis
4 Aug – Mna Utd 0-3 Liverpool
Newcastle United
20 July – Newcastle 3-1 Unterhaching
27 July – Hull City 0-2 Newcastle
31 July – Urawa Red Diamonds 1-4 Newcastle
3 Aug – Yokohama F. Marinos 2-0 Newcastle
9 Aug v Girona (H)
10 Aug v Stade Brestois (H)
Nottingham Forest
13 July – Chesterfield 0-3 Nott’m Forest
19 July – Sunderland 1-1 Nott’m Forest
23 July – Nott’m Forest 2-1 Millwall
26 July – Nott’m Forest 0-1 Elche
2 Aug – Nott’m Forest 0-0 Villarreal (H)
8 Aug v Olympiacos (A)
Southampton
19 July – Eastleigh 1-7 Southampton
24 July – Bordeaux 2-3 Southampton
27 July – Southampton 3-1 Montpellier
31 July – Oxford United 2-0 Southampton
3 Aug – Millwall 0-1 Southampton
7 Aug v Lazio (H)
10 Aug v Getafe (H)
Tottenham Hotspur
17 July – Hearts 1-5 Spurs
20 July – QPR 0-2 Spurs
27 July – Vissel Kobe 2-3 Spurs
31 July – Team K League 3-4 Spurs
3 Aug – Bayern Munich 2-1 Spurs
10 Aug v Bayern Munich (H)
West Ham United
15 July – Ferencvaros 2-2 West Ham
20 July – Dagenham & Redbridge 0-1 West Ham
28 July – West Ham 1-3 Wolves
3 Aug – West Ham 1-3 Crystal Palace
10 Aug v Celta Vigo (H)
Wolverhampton Wanderers
15 July – Como 1907 0-1 Wolves
20 July – Wolves 3-0 Bristol City
28 July – West Ham 1-3 Wolves
31 July – Crystal Palace 3-1 Wolves
3 Aug – RB Leipzig 0-3 Wolves
10 Aug v Rayo Vallecano (H)

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