Palace, Villa and Brighton win heavily, but Everton are beaten twice in OPEL Cup
Saturday 27 July 2019 20:54, UK
Steve Bruce's first match in the dugout as Newcastle manager ended in a 2-1 defeat at Championship side Preston.
Having not obtained a working visa for Newcastle's two games in China, Bruce saw his side take a first-half lead through Jonjo Shelvey's fine free-kick.
They should have been 2-0 up as new £40m signing Joelinton earned a second-half penalty with his first touch, but Miguel Almiron saw his spot-kick saved by Declan Rudd.
Preston then won it with two penalties of their own from Paul Gallagher, the second coming after Joelinton caught Patrick Bauer after an attempted clearance.
Everton's day at the OPEL Cup ended in disappointment, beaten 1-0 by Sevilla before a 3-1 loss against Mainz, with Lewis Gibson scoring the Toffees' only goal across the two hour-long matches.
Aston Villa continued their fine pre-season with a 4-1 win at Charlton, their fourth victory from four, thanks to goals from Anwar El Ghazi, Andre Green and a fine John McGinn double.
Brighton hit four at Birmingham without reply, with Shane Duffy scoring twice after early goals from Glenn Murray and Jurgen Locadia, while Bournemouth beat Brentford 3-1 thanks to Jordon Ibe, Sam Surridge and Dominic Solanke's strikes.
West Ham travelled across London to beat Fulham 1-0 thanks to Manuel Lanzini's fantastic first-half strike, as Sebastien Haller and Pablo Fornals made their debuts.
Crystal Palace demolished Bristol City 5-0 at Ashton Gate, with two goals inside a minute playing their part in sending the Eagles on their way to victory.
Andros Townsend finished off early on before Jeffrey Schlupp doubled the lead within 60 seconds, with morale-boosting goals for Christian Benteke and Connor Wickham after half-time, and Max Meyer also getting on the scoresheet.
Premier League new-boys Norwich also had their shooting boots on as they thrashed Luton 5-1, with summer signing Josip Drmic grabbing a hat-trick in a comprehensive victory.
The Swiss forward's trio was added to by Marco Stiepermann and a Patrick Roberts stunner, with Dan Potts netting a consolation for the hosts.
Leicester fielded two sides of mixed quality with one held 2-2 at Rotherham, who twice came from behind against their Premier League visitors.
Kalechi Iheanacho scored both goals for the Foxes, his second and third in two games, but a late Michael Ihiekwe equaliser earned a share of the spoils.
Further west, a late Youri Tielemans winner saw Leicester's other side past Championship Stoke, with Marc Albrighton also netting a wonder-strike in a 2-1 win which was overshadowed by a horror injury suffered by Ryan Shawcross.
There was a case of deja vu at Loftus Road where Watford recorded a carbon copy of their FA Cup win in February by beating QPR 1-0 with Etienne Capoue netting another deflected goal.
And Wigan held Burnley to a 2-2 draw at the DW Stadium, with U18 forward Joe Gelhardt netting the equaliser for the Latics, who had conceded two first-half goals to Jay Rodriguez and Dwight McNeil.
