AMSTERDAM – Aston Villa netminder Brad Guzan put on a show on Saturday, helping the visitors halt a six-game losing slide with a 0-0 draw at West Ham United. The US international logged five saves and claimed five crosses as the Villans ended their worst string of Premier League defeats in 40 years. After a big early stop on James Collins, Guzan was on his toes to turn away a Stewart Downing laser in the 24th minute.
However, Guzan saved his best for last, denying West Ham sub Andy Carroll on a pair of stoppage time headers. The American notched his fourth shutout of the season, putting him third in the EPL chart, but it did not keep Villa from dropping a rung to 16th place.
One league below in the Championship, second half sub Eric Lichaj and Nottingham Forest rallied in the waning moments to top visiting Norwich CIty 2-1 for the club's first win in 10 games. Despite his short 24-minute shift on the left side of a three-man defense, Lichaj managed seven clearances while also offering some helpful long passing out of the back. Even with the sorely-needed victory, the Reds stayed docked in 11th place.
Elsewhere, Daniel Williams and Reading were frustrated by a 1-0 home loss to Charlton. With Oguchi Onyewu watching on from the away dugout, Williams enjoyed a strong game on the ball. The midfielder twice took aim at an equalizer in the final 20 minutes of play, with his rasping volley buzzing the past before another good chance was snuffed out by a Charlton saving tackle. Due to their fifth defeat in seven league games, the Royals dropped to 14th place.
Also, Emerson Hyndman went unused in Fulham's 3-1 win over visiting Huddersfield Town. The story was similar for Brek Shea, who missed out on Birmingham City's 0-0 home draw against Cardiff City.
Switching focus to the Bundesliga, Timothy Chandler's Eintracht Frankfurt were taught a 4-0 lesson by visiting champs Bayern Munich. The right back rang up a game-high six tackles, but also saw yellow and was among the culpable on Bayern's third. Though Eintracht lost for the fourth consecutive league match, they held firm in 11th place.
A level down in the 2.Bundesliga, Terrence Boyd came up empty in 67 minutes of action as RB Leipzig fell 1-0 at Darmstadt. The US forward appeared to nod home the equalizer on 34 minutes, but the goal was waved off due to an offside teammate on the set-up play. Winless in their last five road games, the Red Bulls sank to sixth place.
Aron Jóhannsson and AZ Alkmaar, meanwhile, celebrated their first Eredivisie win in five games on Saturday night after a 1-0 smash-and-grab victory ay NAC Breda.
The US forward worked 77 minutes, but fired his only good chance just wide midway through the opening frame and suffered eight total turnovers. Jóhannsson departed shortly before a Nemanja Gudelj cracker tentatively boosted AZ up to sixth place.
Over in France's Ligue 1, Alejandro Bedoya came on for the final 10 minutes to help Nantes close out a 2-1 triumph at Caen. Now unbeaten in eight league matches, the Canaries rose to fifth place.
