Leeds United's Premier League rivals suffer embarrassing defeat to local side on Stateside tour

Preparations for this season’s Premier League campaign are now in full swing with several top flight sides taking part in friendly fixtures across the globe.

Leeds, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Manchester United are among those currently situated in Australia, while Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton are in the United States ahead of August 6 and the 2022/23 Premier League kick-off.

So far, Leeds have won two and lost one of their pre-season friendlies, their only defeat coming in a narrow contest with fellow Premier League side Aston Villa.

The Whites defeated Brisbane Roar 2-1 as well as beating Championship Blackpool 4-0 prior to their trip Down Under.

Despite finishing above Leeds last season, Everton’s pre-season calendar has not yet yielded a victory with the Toffees suffering the embarrassment of a 4-0 defeat to Minnesota United during their latest run-out.

Frank Lampard’s side were beaten 2-0 by Arsenal four days earlier, but their most recent fixture versus the MLS outfit may set alarm bells ringing with less than three weeks until the new season commences.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Anthony Gordon, Vitaliy Mykolenko, Jordan Pickford and James Tarkowski all started as Minnesota raced into a 3-0 lead by half-time.

The MLS club are in the midst of their domestic campaign, clearly benefiting from superior match fitness, however Lampard likely expected a less concerning scoreline given the strength of Everton’s line-up.

“If we don’t want to be in that situation [relegation battle] again, they have to better and I have to be better,” he said.

“As a club, it [the Minnesota game] reinforced the situation in terms of what we need to do with the squad, because it has to be stronger than what we saw tonight.”

Leeds host Everton at Elland Road on August 30 in five weeks’ time.