[monks data]

Pre-season Friendlies

Jul 21, 2018 at 3pm UK

Preston Preston North End
2-2
West Ham West Ham United

Clarke (40'), Bodin (76')

FT(HT: 1-2)

Arnautovic (7', 45')

Match Report

Football

West Ham United held by Preston North End

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 21 July 2018

Marko Arnautovic nets twice as West Ham United are held to a 2-2 draw by Championship outfit Preston North End in Saturday's friendly at Deepdale.

Preston North End have twice fought back to earn a 2-2 draw with Premier League outfit West Ham United at Deepdale.

West Ham took just eight minutes to open the scoring in the North-West of England as Mark Noble's free kick set Marko Arnautovic in behind the defence, with the Austrian international doing the rest with a fine finish into the corner.

Louis Moult could have equalised for Preston but sent his close-range header off target, but West Ham continued to show their superior class with an excellent team move ending with Andriy Yarmolenko's strike going wide.

However, Preston found an equaliser before the break as Tom Clarke rose above the West Ham defence to power a header past goalkeeper Adrian from close range.

Both teams looked content to go into half time on level terms, but Arnautovic regained the lead for West Ham in the final minute, with the forward turning on the edge of the area and finding the corner with a left-footed strike.

New signing Jack Wilshere came off at the break after getting 45 minutes under his belt in a West Ham shirt, and the midfielder's exit was almost followed by a second leveller from Preston as Adrian stuck out a hand to prevent Alan Browne's strike from finding the top corner.

Shortly after the hour mark, Noble could have put West Ham in further control after the Hammers were awarded a spot kick, but the midfielder's penalty was brilliantly saved by Chris Maxwell.

Both teams continued to make substitutions, but the break-up in the game failed to prevent Preston from scoring a second as Billy Bodin fired low into the corner.

West Ham almost went in front for the third time in the match with just four minutes left, but the game ended on level terms after Toni Martinez's header was tipped over the crossbar.

PRESTON NORTH END: Maxwell, Barkhuizen (Bodin 66'), Browne, Clarke, Davies, Earl (Hughes 65'), Fisher, Gallagher (Harrop 77'), Horgan, Moult (Maguire 77'), Pearson (Ledson 20')

WEST HAM UNITED: Adrian, Fredericks, Diop (Ogbonna 79'), Rice, Masuaku (Zabaleta 79'), Obiang, Noble, Wilshere (Saksumanovic 46'), Snodgrass, Yarmolenko (Holland 65'), Arnautovic (Martinez 75')