Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool all stepped up their preparations for the new season with victories, but Arsenal lost.
Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool all win but Arsenal lose
Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool all stepped up their preparations for the new season with pre-season friendly victories, but Arsenal lost.
Daniel Sturridge's first-half double helped
Chelsea to a comfortable 3-1 victory over
Rangers in their friendly match at Ibrox.
Nikica Jelavic headed the Scottish champions into the lead after six minutes after being set up by Steven Naismith.
However, Sturridge, who spent the second half of last season on loan to Bolton, struck twice to give the Londoners an interval lead which they never looked like surrendering.
Substitute Florent Malouda, who had replaced Sturridge on the hour mark, headed in Chelsea's third in the 72nd minute to emphasise the gap in class between the two sides.
The scoreline could have been worse for the home side had substitute goalkeeper Neil Alexander, on for Allan McGregor at the interval, not saved Frank Lampard's penalty two minutes later.
Elsewhere, an
Arsenal side without Cesc Fabregas lost 2-1 to
Benfica at the Estadio da Luz in Portgual.
The Gunners, previously unbeaten in pre-season, had taken a half-time lead
through Robin van Persie.
But the home side hit back after the break following a number of changes, with
Pablo Aimar equalising and Nolito hitting the winner in the hour.
Jermain Defoe came off the bench to give
Tottenham a 2-1 victory over
Athletic Bilbao in their final friendly game before the new season.
Spurs suffered an early blow when Steven Pienaar had to be withdrawn due to a groin injury, and Mikel San Jose then volleyed Bilbao in front.
But Peter Crouch equalised before Defoe made an immediate impact as a substitute with the winning goal.
Liverpool concluded their pre-season schedule with a victory and a clean sheet after overcoming
Valencia 2-0 at Anfield.
Andy Carroll netted his third goal of the summer by capitalising on a mistake by David Albelda in the sixth minute, the striker picking up the ball, hitting it against the post off goalkeeper Diego Alves and finishing at the second attempt.
The hosts then made it 2-0 in the final minute of normal time thanks to a goal which was announced as Dirk Kuyt's, even though replays suggested Sotirios Kyrgiakos had got the last touch.
Goodwillie
David Goodwillie scored on his
Blackburn debut as the Premier League side signed off their pre-season preparations with a comfortable 4-1 win over
Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
The Scottish international had not even trained with his new colleagues following his move from Dundee United to Rovers on Wednesday.
Grant Hanley's own goal gave the SPL side the lead after 10 minutes, David Dunn immediately levelled from the penalty spot after Killie's Patrick Ada handled a cross and Jason Roberts gave the visitors the lead soon after.
Roberts also converted a 31st-minute penalty after being fouled in the box.
Danny Graham grabbed his first goal for
Swansea as Brendan Rodgers' side rounded off their pre-season preparations with victory over
Real Betis at the Liberty Stadium.
The £3.5million former Watford man performed a lovely turn from an Angel Rangel pass to loft the ball into the net in the 63rd minute and settle the contest.
Norwich win
Meanwhile,
Norwich completed their pre-season friendly schedule with a comfortable 3-0 win over
Parma at Carrow Road.
A close-range effort from captain Grant Holt and a second-half brace by winger Andrew Surman saw the Canaries warm up for next weekend's Premier League opener at Wigan with a confident display in front of a 13,000 crowd.
George Elokobi and Steven Fletcher scored in the space of five minutes midway through the second half to give
Wolves a 2-0 win over
Real Zaragoza at Molineux.
At Easter Road,
Sunderland were held to a goalless draw by
Hibernian, while
Newcastle's match against
Fiorentina at St James' Park was abandoned by referee Mark Halsey in the 64th minute because of a waterlogged pitch - there had been no breakthrough at the time.
