Palace beat West Ham, Wolves win & Villa lose again
The game against Club America was Aston Villa's final fixture of their US pre-season tour
- Published
Aston Villa's finished their US tour having lost all three matches with a late Illian Hernandez strike inflicting defeat on Unai Emery's side at Chicago's Soldier Field stadium.
Hernandez got the only goal when he raced clear before firing into the bottom corner for Mexican champions Club America.
Villa, for whom summer signing Ian Maatsen made a first start, had earlier almost taken the lead when Leon Bailey's strike hit the base of the post before captain John McGinn also struck the woodwork from the rebound.
But Club America, backed by more of the crowd than Villa, finished the game strongly and secured the victory when Hernandez beat the offside trap and then sent a calm finish beyond 20-year-old goalkeeper Oliwier Zych.
The loss for Villa followed earlier defeats against RB Leipzig and Columbus Crew on tour.
“This match in pre-season was to try to find our feet and to show ourselves against America with a lot of Mexican fans here," said Emery.
“We played trying to get fit and to work on things tactically, trying to show with our performance where we’re going with different players.
“The result was not good, but it gave me a lot of information."
Palace conclude US tour with West Ham win
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace beat Premier League rivals West Ham 3-1 in the Stateside Cup.
Tyrick Mitchell struck after just 30 seconds at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa before West Ham equalised when Michail Antonio won possession to run through on goal and score.
However, Jeffrey Schlupp headed in to make it 2-1 to Palace before Odsonne Edouard wrapped up the win with a powerful finish.
West Ham begin the new Premier League season against Aston Villa on 17 August and new boss Julen Lopetegui accepted there is plenty of work to be done before then.
"This showed us that we have 15 days in front of us to keep on working very hard and to try to evolve the players we have as soon as possible, and the new players, too," he said.
"We are working hard and we know that we have worked very, very hard, so it’s possible that the legs were a little bit tired."
Gomes shines again as Wolves claim comfortable victory
Wolverhampton Wanderers completed their tour of the US with a convincing 3-0 win against German side RB Leipzig.
Lukas Klostermann's own goal gave Wolves the lead after 17 minutes before Pablo Sarabia struck from close range to make it 2-0 in the second half.
Summer signing Rodrigo Gomes continued his impressive pre-season for the Premier League side when he got his third goal in two games to round off the win.
Gomes also scored twice in a 3-1 win against West Ham last week.
“He’s a real threat because he works tirelessly and always arrives in the goal,” boss Gary O’Neil said.
“It’s been good to see how he fits in and he’s had a good week."