AMSTERDAM – Aston Villa got a star show from netminder Brad Guzan on Saturday, with the American ringing up eight saves as the 10-man hosts cooled off Manchester United in a 1-1 Premier League draw.
The SkySports Man of the Match earned his first point against the Red Devils in five career starts notching six cross claims in the game. With Villa leading thanks to an early Chrsitian Benteke strike, Guzan (above) made big stops on Juan Mata and Robin van Persie just before Falcao got loose to nod in the 53rd minute equalizer.
Guzan cruelly denied United after Gabriel Agbonlahor's ejection trimmed the home side down to 10 men in the 65th minute by snaring a handful of dangerous Ashley Young crosses in traffic. After picking up a late yellow card for dissent, the US star saved Villa's point by shoving a James Wilson curler aside near the death.
The last-second stop also gave Guzan 60 saves on the season, pushing him into a tie for the EPL lead with Queens Park Rangers veteran Rob Green. By snapping United's six-game win streak, the Villans tentatively nudged up to 12th place in the table.
Elsewhere, Tim Howard had another rough day in one of his least favorite buildings as Everton dropped a 3-0 decision at Southampton.
The netminder managed just one save, a good stop on Jose Fonte's restart header in the late going. The Toffees at least temporarily held on to 10th place while losing their third straight road game.
One level down in the Championship, the slide continued for Daniel Williams' Reading, who suffered a tough 1-0 home loss to 10-man Watford.
The midfielder impressively completed 44 of 47 passes without committing a single possession turnover, but he did see yellow before exiting in stoppage time. With four losses in the last six games, the Royals slipped to 17th place.
Also, Emerson Hyndman watched on as Fulham eased past visiting Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 and Oguchi Onyewu did likewise in Charlton's 2-0 defeat at Blackburn.
Eric Lichaj, meanwhile, worked the right side of a three-man back line in Nottingham Forest's 1-1 home share with Leeds United. The Illinois native registered four tackles and clearances, as well as a second half caution. Now winless in four, Forest held firm in ninth place.
In Holland, rookie standout Rubio Rubin notched his fifth assist of the Eredivisie season to help visiting FC Utrecht pull off a 3-0 ambush of Aron Jóhannsson's AZ Alkmaar on Saturday night.
With his team already up one, Rubin got free on the right to provide a low cross that allowed Edouard Duplan to double both his tally for the game and the away lead on 37 minutes. The assist moved the 18-year-old into a tie for fifth place on the league chart.
Rubin then nearly grabbed Utrecht a fourth goal mere seconds before halftime, only to roll his guided re-direction from a left-wing cross an inch wide of the far post. The Oregon native – who could have tallied a second assist had a teammate finished off his breakaway pass – would depart in the 82nd minute.
Starved for touches after the break despite AZ's possession advantage, Jóhannsson missed the frame with his lone shot attempt of the night. The defeat was the first in eight league games for the fifth place hosts, while Utrecht won for the third time in five road games to reach ninth place.
Switching focus to France's Ligue 1, Alejandro Bedoya left with a knock early in the second half of Nantes' 2-1 derby triumph at Lorient.
Working from the right side of midfield, Bedoya was enjoying an active shift before being removed with the Canaries up one. The US attacker fired just over from a sharp angle volley in the 19th minute, and then performed a saving line clearance on a corner kick at the other end five minutes later.
With consecutive league wins for the first time this season, Nantes climbed to seventh place.
Over in Germany's Bundesliga, Timothy Chandler and Eintracht Frankfurt extended their solid run of play right up to the midway point of the season with a 1-1 share at third place Bayer Leverkusen.
The right back made a couple of nice attacking plays to create chances near the break and pitched in with three tackles. However, Chandler did have one of his better days in the passing game and picked up a yellow card that puts him one from suspension. The draw conditionally lifted Eintracht to seventh place, pending Sunday's results.
Around the league, Fabian Johnson worked 12 relief minutes in attack, but was unable to help Borussia Mönchengladbach recover in a 2-1 loss at Augsburg. Due to their first defeat in five, the Foals fell to fourth place.
Julian Green remained a spectator as Hamburg fought out a 0-0 draw at Schalke. Winless in three, HSV remained in 14th place, above the danger zone only on goal differential.
Finally, Sacha Kljetsan went unused as Anderlecht pulled to within a point of the Jupiler League perch with a 2-0 victory at Waasland-Beveren. The champs have posted three straight shutout wins across all competitions for the first time since January of 2013.
