LONDON // Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor was on the scoresheet as Tottenham concluded their preparations for the new Premier League season with a 2-1 friendly win over Schalke on Saturday.
Adebayor’s 29th-minute goal and a 66th-minute effort from much-maligned strike partner Roberto Soldado ensured new Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino enjoyed a winning debut at White Hart Lane following his pre-season move from Southampton.
Read more: Mauricio Pochettino begins molding Tottenham in his image
Pochettino, who replaced the sacked Tim Sherwood, arrives with a reputation for producing sides who play entertaining football and there were enough positive moments against Schalke to offer hope of a bright future under the Argentine coach.
Ghana midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng got one back for German side Schalke with 10 minutes remaining, but the north London team held on to secure a morale-boosting victory ahead of next weekend’s Premier League opener at local rivals West Ham.
At Upton Park, West Ham prepared for that derby showdown with a 3-2 success against Italian team Sampdoria.
Youngster Reece Burke got the winner in the last minute to ease the pressure on Sam Allardyce as West Ham finally earned their first pre-season victory.
Mo Diame’s solo effort had hauled the Hammers level after goals from Stefan Okaka and Citadin Eder sandwiched Mark Noble’s penalty.
Southampton’s miserable pre-season continued with a 1-0 home defeat against German team Bayer Leverkusen.
Since the end of last season, Saints fans have seen Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Rickie Lambert, Calum Chambers and Dejan Lovren all sold, with new boss Ronald Koeman struggling to find quality replacements.
To make matters worse, one of his new signings, striker Graziano Pelle, scored an own goal on his home debut when he deflected a corner past goalkeeper Artur Boruc in the 57th minute.
Leicester, promoted as Championship winners, enjoyed a 1-0 win over German outfit Werder Bremen thanks to defender Wes Morgan’s seventh minute header.
Elsewhere, Burnley, who came up along with Leicester, were 3-1 winners against Italian side Verona, with Matt Taylor, Lukas Jutkiewicz and Ross Wallace scoring for Sean Dyche’s club.
Swansea, who face Manchester United in their Premier League opener, will need to improve dramatically on their 3-0 home defeat against Spanish team Villarreal.
West Bromwich Albion were beaten 3-1 by Porto at the Hawthorns, while Everton lost 3-1 at Paderborn.
Aston Villa drew 0-0 with Italian side Parma and QPR lost 1-0 to PAOK Thessaloniki.
Crystal Palace shared a goalless draw with Augsburg and Stoke’s Mame Biram Diouf scored in a 1-1 draw with Freiburg.
Other selected friendly football results from Saturday:
Aston Villa 0 Parma 0
Augsburg 0 Crystal Palace 0
Burnley 3 (Taylor 47, Jutkiewicz 61, Wallace 82) Verona 1 (Christodoulopoulos 46)
Leicester 1 (Morgan 7) Werder Bremen 0
Paderborn 3 (Stoppelkamp 15-pen, Ducksch 68, Brueckner 76) Everton 1 (Long 12)
QPR 0 PAOK Thessaloniki 1 (Hill 67-og)
Swansea 0 Villarreal 3 (Uche 3, Soriano 51, Cheryshev 58)
West Ham 3 (Noble 45-pen, Diame 77, Burke 90) Sampdoria 2 (Okaka Chuka 16, Eder 62)
West Brom 1 (Olsson 40) Porto 3 (Casemiro 23, Martinez, 51, 54)
HJK Helsinki 0 Barcelona 6 (El Haddadi 4, 16, Sergi Roberto 9, Pique 24, Bartra 48, Sandro 82)
Freiburg 1 (Klaus 2) Stoke 1 (Diouf 39)
Southampton 0 Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Pelle 57-og)
Tottenham 2 (Adebayor 29, Soldado 66) Schalke 1 (Boateng 80)
Follow our sports coverage on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
