Stoke City secured third place at the Barclays Asia Trophy as an early goal by Steve Sidwell and a second-half effort by Marko Arnautovic gave the Premier League side a 2-0 win over a Singapore Select XI at the National Stadium on Saturday.

The Potters took the lead after six minutes when Peter Crouch knocked down a corner for Sidwell who stabbed the ball in from close range.

Arnautovic had a goal disallowed for offside on the half-hour but the Austrian sealed Stoke’s victory when he curled an effort past Singapore goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud with 17 minutes left.

The home side had gone close when Safuwan Baharudin chipped narrowly wide on the stroke of half-time but Izwan ensured that the score remained respectable as he twice denied Peter Odemwingie late in the second half.

FA Cup holders Arsenal meet Everton in the final later on Saturday.

Nasri nabs late winner for Man City in Australia

Samir Nasri scored a late winner as English giants Manchester City beat their Australian sister club Melbourne City 1-0 in a football friendly on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

The Frenchman struck with a superb late volley in the 86th minute to break the deadlock in the first meeting between the two clubs.

Nasri chested down Bruno Zuculini’s cross before lashing home a well struck volley high into the net.

The glamour English outfit was in control for most of the game but could not make the dominance felt before Nasri’s intervention.

Spanish midfield starlet Manu Garcia did well in midfield while Turkish striker Enes Unal came on as a late substitution.

Manchester City used the hit-out ahead of their first match in the International Champions Cup in Melbourne against Italy’s AS Roma on Tuesday.

Roma beat Spanish giants Real Madrid 7-6 on penalties after their ICC opener at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday was scoreless after 90 minutes.

[naviga:h3]Villa gamble on France Under-21 defender Amavi[/naviga:h3]

France Under-21 international fullback Jordan Amavi became one of Ligue 1 side Nice’s most lucrative transfer deals on Saturday when he signed for English Premier League side Aston Villa for a fee believed to be between 13 to 15million euros (£9-10.4million, $14-16million).

The 21-year-old — whose fee could rival that of French international striker Loic Remy when he moved to Marseille in 2010 — underwent a medical and held talks with Villa manager Tim Sherwood on Saturday before putting pen to paper according to the Nice board.

The fee will be of immense use to Nice, who have been searching for funds for its future training centre whose cost is put at 15million euros.

Amavi, who will see his wages rise considerably with the move, has only played at leftback for a season having been converted from attacking midfielder by Nice manager Claude Puel playing 36 times last season and scoring four goals.

Amavi, whose large transfer fee represents a gamble by Sherwood and for a team that has struggled to avoid relegation in the past two seasons, made his Ligue 1 debut in 2012 but only became a regular first choice last term

CSKA make winning start in Russian Premier League

Last season’s runners-up CSKA Moscow began their Russian Premier League campaign with a 1-0 victory over Rubin Kazan on Saturday.

The new season had already been overshadowed by a racism scandal, with Ghanaian former Arsenal player Emmanuel Frimpong being sent off for responding to alleged monkey chants during FC Ufa’s 2-2 draw at Spartak Moscow on Friday.

But hosts CSKA were purely focused on getting their season off on the right track at the Khimki Arena.

The Moscow side, who will face Czech club Sparta Prague in the Champions League third qualifying round later this month, secured the points thanks to Nigerian forward Ahmed Musa’s late goal.

“It was a very difficult match just like we expected,” said CSKA coach Leonid Slutsky.

“Rubin have likely learnt their lesson from our last Premiership match (that CSKA won 3-0).”

The Red Army side dominated from the start and created a series of chances in front of their home supporters with midfielders Pontus Wernbloom and Zoran Tosic hitting the woodwork on three occasions between them in the first half.

The 2014 champions squandered further chances after the break before Musa received a clever back-heel by Georgi Milanov in the area and crashed the ball past visiting ‘keeper Sergei Ryzhikov with three minutes to go.

In the other matches on Saturday, Rostov, who narrowly avoided relegation last season, played out a 1-1 draw with Terek Grozny.

Malian midfielder Moussa Doumbia put Rostov ahead in the 38th minute with an acrobatic volley from inside the area.

But the visitors pressed and forward Igor Lebedenko levelled proceedings in the 70th minute, sweeping home an Ismail Aissati cross.

Reigning champions Zenit St Petersburg begin the defence of their title at home to Dynamo Moscow on Sunday.