VIDEO MATCH HIGHLIGHT: LENS 1-1 ARSENAL(PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY 2016)

Arsene Wenger’s men were facing a humbling defeat to the second-tier French side when Mathias Autret opened the scoring, but the England midfielder rescued a result

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain netted a late equaliser to help Arsenal to a 1-1 draw against Lens in their first pre-season game.

Arsene Wenger opted to field a combination of experienced first-team players, such as Per Mertesacker, Nacho Monreal, Francis Coquelin and Theo Walcott, with promising youngsters like Alex Iwobi, Chuba Akpom and Jeff Reine-Adelaide.

It was Akpom who got the first chance for Arsenal early on, but the attacker had his shot saved by Lens goalkeeper Nicolas Douchez.

The Ligue 2 side then had a sight of goal courtesy of Abdellah Zoubir, only for the midfielder to fire just wide.

Mathias Autret then opened the scoring for the French side after tapping home from close range after some unconvincing defending from Calum Chambers.

Wenger made six changes for the second half – Joel Campbell, Kieran Gibbs and Oxlade-Chamberlain among those coming on.

Substitute goalkeeper Matt Macey showed his quality in the 64th minute with a superb save to deny Benjamin Bourigeaud.

Walcott could have levelled the scoring with 15 minutes left on the clock after some good work from Oxlade-Chamberlain, but the England international had his shot tipped wide.

There would be a late equaliser after all, though, as Oxlade-Chamberlain delicately chipped the ball into the top corner after a sublime throughball from Serge Gnabry to salvage a draw

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FOOTBALL: MARADONA 'HURTING' AS HIGUAIN CLOSES ON JUVENTUS MOVE

The Argentina legend insists the striker is not to blame but believes the Napoli fans will be hurt by the striker's sale.

Former Napoli star Diego Maradona says he is "hurting" at the prospect of Gonzalo Higuain joining Juventus.

Widespread reports in Italy on Saturday suggested the Argentina striker is poised to move to the Serie A champions after they agreed to meet his release clause of just over €94 million.

The staggering sum would make Higuain the second most expensive transfer in history, behind Gareth Bale, who left Tottenham for Real Madrid for €100m in 2013.

Italiano | Castellano

Mi dispiace che Higuain vada da una rivale diretta come la Juventus. Ma non si può neanche dare la colpa solo al giocatore. Perché il giocatore ha le sue responsabilità, ma i più felici sono sempre quelli che fanno gli affari. Nessuno pensa ai tifosi.
Sono stanco di dire che oggi è più importante aver un buon imprenditore che un buon presidente.
Questo non accadeva ai miei tempi....

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"A player has a responsibility to himself and it is those fat cats of business that are grinning the most in this case. Nobody thinks of the fan.

"I'm tired of saying that today it seems to be more important to be a good businessman than a good president. This did not happen in my time. Too bad that FIFA continues to sleep."

Higuain's predicted move is likely to accelerate rumours surrounding Paul Pogba, with Manchester United reported to have reached an agreement with Juve to sign the France international for a world-record fee of close to €120m.

FOOTBALL: MESSI CUTS SHORT HOLIDAY FOR BARCELONA TRAINING CAMP

The Argentine was given an extended break after this summer's Copa America but has return early for pre-season. Barcelona have announced Lionel Messi will travel with the squad for a week of pre-season training in England.

The 29-year-old had been expected to miss the trip to the St. George's Park facilities, after taking a belated holiday following Argentina's run to the final of the Copa America Centenario.

However, the Spanish champions have confirmed Messi has cut short his time off in order to link up with the travelling party, along with Turkey captain Arda Turan.

"The Argentine star will come back from holiday early and, together with Arda Turan, will join up with the group for a week of pre-season," Barca said in a statement.

Jordi Masip, Luis Suarez, Munir El Haddadi, Sergi Roberto, Adriano, Aleix Vidal, Jeremy Mathieu, Denis Suarez, Sergi Samper, Cristian Tello and Martin Montoya are the first-team players who will travel to England.

FOOTBALL:VIDEO MATCH HIGHLIGHT MANCHESTER UNITED 1 - 4 B-DORTMUND (CHAMPIONS CUP 2016)

Jose Mourinho suffered his first defeat as Manchester United manager as his side slipped to a 4-1 defeat against Borussia Dortmund in the International Champions Cup on Friday.

Dortmund, who were competing in their fifth pre-season affair compared to United’s second, made their extra sharpness count as they raced into a two-goal lead in the first half in Shanghai.

Gonzalo Castro stabbed home from close range after Sam Johnstone failed to clear the danger, before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a penalty after Antonio Valencia handled in the area.

BVB new boy Ousmane Dembele scored a delightful goal to make it 3-0, though Henrikh Mkhitaryan – who swapped Dortmund for United earlier this month – reduced the deficit two minutes later.

But Dortmund soon restored their three-goal cushion when Castro blasted home his second of the game in superb fashion.

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FOOTBALL: MATIC READY TO FIGHT KANTE FOR CHELSEA STARTING SPOT

The Serbia international will have to compete with the ex-Leicester City midfielder for a place in Antonio Conte's starting XI but insists that he is unfazed by such prospect.
Nemanja Matic insist he is not concerned by the prospect of competing with N'golo Kante for a starting spot in Chelsea's  midfield.

The Blues completed the signing of France international Kante last week for a fee believe to be in the region of  30 million pounds. Kante will subsequently battle with matic for a berth in Antonio conte's starting line up, but the Serbian insists that he is unfazed by the arrival of the 25-year-old, who played a major role in Leicester City's Premier League tittle triumph last season.

''I am sure that 100,000 players want to come to play for Chelsea so there is always competition, all life is a fight so every players is ready for that,'' Matic said.

“Yes, [it is great to have him] he is a good player and I am sure that he will bring a lot of qualities to our team and all good players are welcome to our team.

“He is a great player and it was difficult play against him [last season] and I am very happy because he is coming to Chelsea.”

In addition to Kante Chelsea also signed Michy Batshuayi this summer, with the striker arriving from Marseille for a fee of £33m.