Saints duo show plenty of friendly fire

DANNY INGS and James Ward-Prowse celebrated their England call-ups in style as Southampton crushed Swansea 7-1 in a friendly at St Mary’s.

The Southampton duo scored two goals each just a few days after being named in Gareth Southgate’s squad for England’s double-header against Iceland and Denmark.

Che Adams, Nathan Redmond and Ryan Bertrand were also on target inside the hour. Championship side Swansea replied through Jay Fulton late on.

Ings, fresh from a memorable season in which he scored 22 Premier League goals, is back in the England squad for the first time in five years.

Ward-Prowse last featured for his country in March 2019.

Joe Hart was handed his first Tottenham start as Steven Bergwijn scored a late stunner in Tottenham’s 1-0 win at home to Birmingham.

Hart and Hugo Lloris played a half each and barely had saves to make while Harry Kane looked on from the stands following the conclusion of his self-isolation following a trip to the Bahamas.

Bergwijn was Spurs’ saviour with a crisp strike from the edge of the box in the 89th minute. Jose Mourinho said: ‘In friendlies the levels normally drop but we got better and wanted to win. That shows the attitude was great.’

Eberechi Eze made an impressive debut for Crystal Palace as they beat Charlton 3-0.

Eze was handed a start by Roy Hodgson 24 hours after his £20m move from QPR and the 22-year-old added real pace to the Palace frontline.

Jordan Ayew scored twice with Wilfried Zaha completing the scoring but it was Eze’s 45-minute performance which caught Hodgson’s eye.

‘He was excellent,’ he said. ‘It was as if he’s been with us longer than one day’s training. His understanding of the position was very good. It was a very promising debut.’

Andriy Yarmolenko and Thomas Soucek were on target for West Ham as they beat Brentford 2-1.

Stoke City squeezed into round two of the Carabao Cup but needed a penalty shootout to see off Blackpool after a 0-0 draw. Keeper Adam Davies was the hero for the Potters, saving from Oliver Sarkic and Keshi Anderson.

Portsmouth also needed penalties to make it through, winning the shootout 3-1 after a 3-3 draw at Stevenage.

Adam Armstrong’s late penalty earned Blackburn a 3-2 win against Doncaster while Preston breezed past Mansfield with Tom Barkhuizen opening the scoring in a 4-0 romp.