Saturday was a hugely busy day for our Premier League opponents with ten sides in action as well as us - we start our Saturday round up with news of Stoke, Newcastle, Norwich and Leicester.

FC Koln 2 Stoke City 1

STOKE CITY were cruelly beaten in the opening game of this weekend's Colonia Cup by hosts FC Koln.

A Yannick Gerhardt strike minutes before the final whistle sealed victory for the Germans after Peter Odemwingie had levelled matters just 10 minutes before.

It was the Nigerian's first goal for the Potters after recovering from a lengthy injury, as he cancelled out Anthony Modeste's goal just before half-time.

Mark Hughes: "From our point of view it was an okay game, no more or no less than that really, and we got more minutes into a lot of the guys.

"The tempo was a little bit slow and not that we are used to, it was probably a little too easy to allow the opposition to sit back and get behind the ball while hitting us on the counter attack.

"There are things to work on as always, but today was about giving some of the team some game time and the ones that play tomorrow will get the same."

Norwich 2 Brentford 1

NORWICH City wrapped up their 2015-16 Barclays Premier League preparations with a 2-1 win over Sky Bet Championship side Brentford at Carrow Road on Saturday.

Goals in either half from Wes Hoolahan and substitute Cameron Jerome proved enough to secure the win, after Andre Gray has initially levelled for the away side in an entertaining first half.

Alex Neil: "I thought we played really well at times and some of our link-up play was brilliant.

"In the second half we got into good areas, and the pleasing thing is we scored two goals. We created a lot of chances against a team we struggled against last year, which was the main reason for taking the game. “

Newcastle 0 Borussia Monchengladbach 1

Newcastle United completed their pre-season schedule with a 1-0 home defeat against Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday.

Thorgan Hazard's second-half strike was enough to separate the sides at St. James' Park, although the result was slightly harsh on the Magpies, who arguably created the better chances of the friendly.

Birmingham 2 Leicester 3

The Foxes produced a bright start to the match but conceded twice in a minute halfway through the second half against the run of play. The first was an unstoppable free kick from David Cotterill that came just 60 seconds before Demarai Gray rattled another screamer into the same top corner.

City’s pressure eventually paid off just before the hour mark when Robert Huth arrived at the far post to convert a corner that was flicked on by Andy King and reduce the deficit.

The brilliance of Riyad Mahrez then created the equaliser for the Foxes, as his curling free kick struck the upright before falling kindly for Danny Drinkwater to slot home from close range.

Substitute Shinji Okazaki then completed the comeback in the 83rd minute as he met Mahrez’s cross with a brilliant diving header to round off an unbeaten pre-season for Claudio Ranieri’s side.

Claudio Ranieri: “It started very well. I think in the first 20 minutes were our best of pre-season. But suddenly we conceded two fantastic goals.

“When you watch the two goals you can only clap the two players who scored them. After this we slowed down our tempo like we didn’t believe it was possible for it to be 2-0 to our opponent. “

Photo: Action Images

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