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Featured Sport News

Friendly season underway

Author: Rose Young
Date: 18/07/2009

The friendly season is underway as the Premier League's big names return to training in preparation for the 2009-10 term.

This weekend, all of the Premier League's big guns are in action, so expect the odd famous face, total unknown and plenty of emerging talent to be in action.

Manchester United again travel to Asia for a tour which is much about marketing appeal as it is football matters. They take on an inexperienced Malaysia XI in a match which will probably see a packed crowd of red shirts.

Michael Owen will be keen to get amongst the goals and seek a return to full fitness in pre-season, so expect him to be pushing Sir Alex Ferguson to play him as much as possible in the run-up to the Red Devils' title defence, for which they are sportsbook favourites to lift a 19th league title despite the losses of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.

New signing Luis Antonio Valencia could also get a run-out. It will be interesting to see where Valencia is deployed, as he is competent across the midfield. United also travel to China and Korea in the money-spinning trip.

Chelsea go stateside as they target the North American market for worldwide exposure. They take on Seattle Sounders to kick off their USA tour.

Rumours are rife about potential comings and goings at Stamford Bridge, but this pre-season could offer the Blues' and England's forgotten man, Joe Cole, a chance to re-establish himself as one of the country's top players.

After such a long lay-off, he was likely to be among those starting pre-season early, but he has suffered another setback in his recovery.

£18million signing Yuri Zhirkov will look to make an early impression to force his way into the reckoning for a starting place on the left side for Chelsea. Ashley Cole and Florent Malouda finished last season extremely impressively in tandem, so it will be difficult for the Russia international to earn a starting slot.

Liverpool have a decent test on their hands on Sunday, as they take on Rapid Vienna of Austria. Manager Rafael Benitez is currently facing a fight to keep hold of midfielders Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano, with the former reportedly thought to be trying to force his way out of Anfield.

If Alonso does leave, then the likes of local youngster Jay Spearing and Lucas Leiva will look to prove to Benitez that he does not need to sign any new replacements. £18million signing Glen Johnson is being thrown into action right away as the Reds look to field a settled side capable of going one better than their second-place finish last term.

Who will win the Premier League in 2009-10? Latest Football Betting

The other big attraction of the weekend sees Manchester City travel to South Africa.

They take on Orlando Pirates, but all eyes will be on Mark Hughes' team selection.

Tevez could be thrown straight into action, while another new forward Roque Santa Cruz will look to impress immediately due to City's chase of Emmanuel Adebayor.

For a huge squad at Eastlands, it's a chance for many to prove their worth to Hughes.

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