No sooner has the World Cup ended and the pre-season for the English clubs has begun. Most sides are without some of their World Cup stars as they take a well-deserved break, but the modern squad sizes don’t allow for a lack of talent.

The champions Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 1-0 thanks to a solitary goal from Michael Essien. The Ghanian is back from a lengthy lay-off that saw him miss the Word Cup this year. Carlo Ancelloti said, ‘It was an important return, he came back very well and played very well. He is a fantastic player, we missed him last season and we hope he can do the best for this season’. Their next match is against Ajax in the Amsterdam Arena.

Manchester United is currently on tour in North America and kicked off against Celtic in Chicago on Saturday. Berbatov opened the scoring with some fine finishing in the first half, reds’ fans hoping the Bulgarian is making the start of a glorious season at Old Trafford. Much is expected of the smooth operator this year. New boy Chris Smalling did not make the best of starts for the reds as he gave away a penalty that allowed Samaras to level for the bouys. Manchester United was able to finish strongly as Danny Welbeck and Darren Odea scored in the final quarter of the match, leaving the score at 3-1. The Red Devils have three more matches on the tour; they will be taking on Philadelphia Union, Kansas City Wizards and the MLS All-Stars. You can see the full fixture list here.

Arsenal’s tradition of playing their opening pre-season match against Barnet continued this year has they beat the clarets 4-0 in a routine win. New signings Maruone Chamakh and Laurent Koscielny were given a run out, but it was Arshavin who stole the limelight as he put in an outstanding performance taking the first goal in the opening two minutes. Youngster Jay Simpson scored a brace and Samir Nasri seems to have gotten over his World Cup disappointment with a well taken goal in the 75th minute.

Liverpool’s game against Al-Halil was called off due to bad weather. Here are some results from a selection of games that took place on the weekend :

• Brisbane 1 : Everton 2
• Carlisle 0: Newcastle
• Darlington 0 : Sunderland 1
• Bournemouth 1 : Fulham 1

Tags: arsenal, chelsea, manchester united, michael essien