Man U, Chelsea play to draws in Premier League

Posted Sunday, October 17, 2010 by YAHOO Sport

LONDON (AP)—Manchester United, with Wayne Rooney not playing until the last 20 minutes, drew 2-2 with West Bromwich Albion on Saturday after blowing a two-goal lead. It was the third straight tie for Man United.

In another key Premier League game, U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel helped Aston Villa hold first-place Chelsea to a scoreless tie.

Chelsea has just four points from its last three matches. It has 19 points and is five ahead of Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham. City, however, has played one less game.

Rooney was benched days after contradicting manager Alex Ferguson by denying he had missed games because of an ankle injury.

United didn’t appear to be missing Rooney when Javier Hernandez and Nani scored in the first half. But after the break, Chris Brunt’s free kick went in off Patrice Evra before Somen Tchoyi tapped in from 6 yards after Edwin van der Saar dropped a cross from Brunt. By the time Rooney entered the score was 2-2.

“It’s just explicable,” Ferguson said. “It turned from a fantastic first-half performance to one where we have given the game away. We should have punished them and scored four or five before halftime.”

The North London clubs both rallied to win 2-1, with Arsenal downing Birmingham and Tottenham stopping Fulham.

Tottenham’s winning goal was disputed. Tom Huddlestone’s strike initially was disallowed because William Gallas was offsides. The decision was overruled by the referee, with the ball never touching the defender.

Clint Dempsey’s cross was turned in by Diomansy Kamara to put Fulham ahead. Roman Pavlyuchenko tied it shortly after the ensuing kickoff.

Bolton defeated Stoke 2-1; Newcastle tied Wigan 2-2; and Wolverhampton drew 1-1 with West Ham.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP)—Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol led a second-half surge, helping Barcelona rally past Valencia 2-1 to move up in the Spanish league standings.

Pablo Hernandez put Valencia ahead in the first half. Iniesta started the comeback, swapping passes with Xavi Hernandez before beating Cesar Sanchez in the 47th minute. Xavi, returning from injury, orchestrated the 63rd-minute winner, with Puyol heading his centering cross past Sanchez.

Barcelona and Valencia have 16 points. Real Madrid has 14 and could take the lead with a victory over Malaga later Saturday.

Sabrosa Simao and Diego Costa scored to send Atletico Madrid past neighboring Getafe 2-0. Atletico improved to 13 points, while Getafe has 10.

MILAN (AP)—Alexandre Pato’s two goals in the first half powered AC Milan past Chievo Verona 3-1 for a temporary lead in Serie A.

Chievo fought back in the second half and scored on Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s own-goal. But as Chievo pushed to even the score, Robinho broke away to net his first goal for Milan.

PARIS (AP)—Loic Remy led defending champion Marseille to a 1-0 victory over Nancy in the French first division.

A week after scoring his first goal for France in a European Championship qualifier against Romania, Remy finished from close range in the 27th minute. It was his first goal for Marseille since joining the club from Nice this summer.

Marseille has 15 points from nine games, two points fewer than second-place Saint-Etienne and three behind leader Rennes. Rennes and Saint-Etienne have played one less game than Marseille.

Auxerre coach Jean Fernandez’s 500th career game coaching in French soccer ended in a 1-0 home defeat to Bordeaux. Anthony Modeste scored the winner.

Last-place Arles got its first point of the season following eight straight defeats when it drew 0-0 at Brest.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP)—Mainz’s seven-game winning streak to start the Bundesliga season ended with a 1-0 loss to Hamburg on Paolo Guerrero’s goal in the 89th minute.

Mainz fell one victory short of matching the league record for the best season start. Mainz slipped to second place on goal difference behind Borussia Dortmund, which won 2-1 at Cologne on Friday to take first place for the first time in seven years.

Mario Gomez scored a hat trick in Bayern Munich’s 3-0 home win over Hannover, his first goals for the club in eight months.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar converted a late penalty kick to salvage a 2-2 draw for Schalke against last-place Stuttgart. Werder Bremen edged Freiburg 2-1, and St. Pauli beat Nuremberg 3-2.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP)—Defending champion Rangers rallied from a goal down to rout Motherwell 4-1 with a ruthless second-half display.

Rangers have won all eight of their games and next week plays rival Celtic, which has a perfect record after seven games and faces Dundee United on Sunday.

Nick Blackman gave Motherwell the lead just before halftime, but the champions responded with goals by Steven Naismith, Steven Davis, Kenny Miller and Vladimir Weiss.