Pre-season round-up: Crystal Palace edge nine-goal thriller but Leicester lose![Copy icon](/ls-web-assets/svgs/common/link-471b4.svg)
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![Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira saw his side emerge victorious in a nine-goal thriller against Millwall](https://uk1.sportal365images.com/process/smp-image-api/livescore.com/09072022/10fec26a-5309-444f-8638-76f7a0c91eda.jpg?operations=fit(707:)&w=707&quality=100)
Pre-season preparations got underway for a number of Premier League sides with Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Aston Villa all picking up wins.
Palace came out on top in a nine-goal thriller with Millwall, while fellow Premier League sides Newcastle and Villa enjoyed more comfortable victories.
However, Leicester slumped to a disappointing 2-1 defeat against Notts County in one of the upsets of this evening's friendlies.
Crystal Palace 5-4 Millwall
Palace claimed their first win of pre-season in a frantic game with Championship side Millwall that was packed with drama.
Eberechi Eze opened the scoring for the Eagles after three minutes, only for Benik Afobe to respond almost immediately.
The hosts went ahead again through Jordan Ayew but Afobe once again came up with an equaliser.
Palace pulled two ahead in the second half as Jake O'Brien and Christian Benteke got on the scoresheet before being pegged back yet again.
Charlie Cresswell halved the deficit before Zian Flemming volleyed another equaliser home with nine minutes of normal time remaining — but Patrick Vieira’s men were not to be denied.
Just a minute later, youngster Jesurun Rak-Sakyi found a fifth to hand Palace victory.
Leicester 1-2 Notts County
Premier League Leicester would have been confident ahead of their pre-season fixture with National League Notts County but slipped to an unlikely defeat.
Harvey Barnes gave the Foxes the lead on the half-hour mark, capitalising on a one-on-one situation.
The visitors equalised shortly before the break with Kairo Mitchell converting from a corner after Leicester goalkeeper Daniel Iversen was unable to hold the delivery.
It was another set-piece that undid Leicester in the 78th minute with Aden Baldwin powering home a header following a free-kick swung into the middle.
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers was calm about the result, however, praising the Foxes' opponents.
He said: "It was a good exercise around the objectives of the game, which is based around fitness. We're playing against a good side who will do well in the National League.
"It was a really good exercise and I'm pleased the players got through it. We want to be better with the ball and have more fluency."
Other games
Newcastle suffered no such slip-ups against their own non-league opponents, claiming a comprehensive 5-1 victory over Gateshead after a late flurry in which the Magpies scored three times in the final 10 minutes.
Aston Villa enjoyed a similarly routine 4-0 win over League Two Walsall in which new signing Diego Carlos made his debut and Douglas Luiz scored directly from a corner.
Brentford were untroubled by fifth-tier Boreham Wood, winning 2-0 courtesy of strikes from Bryan Mbeumo and Josh Dasilva.
Brighton, however, did not fare so well and were held to a 0-0 draw with Belgian sister club Union Saint-Gilloise.