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European Weekend Rewind: Arsenal draw Everton; Leverkusen edge Dortmund; and more

Gerard Deulofeu of Everton celebrates his goal, 1-1

By JUSTIN FERGUSON

Arsenal were minutes away from opening up a seven-point lead in the English Premier League, but Everton’s Gerard Deulofeu had other ideas.

The on-loan Barcelona winger netted an 84th-minute equalizer to earn Everton a 1-1 draw with the league leaders at Emirates Stadium on Sunday. Arsenal had taken the lead in the tense matchup four minutes earlier off a goal from midfielder Mesut Ozil, but the 19-year-old Deulofeu fired a shot high into the corner of Wojciech Szczesny’s goal to equalize.

After a dominating start by Everton, Arsenal started to level the playing field into the second half. Both sides missed chances to break the deadlock until the 80th minute, when Ozil followed-up a complete miss from Olivier Giroud. The French striker almost earned the Gunners all three points following Deulofeu’s impressive equalizer, but his 25-yard shot cannoned off the crossbar in stoppage time.

While the weekend’s top clash in England ended in a draw, the highly anticipated German meeting between Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen was a 1-0 victory for second-place Leverkusen. Heung-Min Son scored the match’s only goal in the 18th minute from a tight angle, a strike that moved Leverkusen six points ahead of their opponents. Dortmund’s health issues grew in the 1-0 home loss as Nuri Sahin and Sven Bender were substituted out with injuries a few days ahead of their club’s important Champions League match against Marseille.

Here is a closer look at all the weekend’s action from the top leagues in Europe:

ENGLAND

Chelsea lost control of second place in the EPL this weekend after a stunning 3-2 road loss to 12th-place Stoke City. Andre Schurrle had a fantastic day for the Blues, but his two-goal performance was not enough to hold off a Stoke side that held a short-lived lead early in the second half thanks to a Stephen Ireland goal. Late substitute and Liverpool loanee Oussama Assaidi delivered a memorable 90th-minute strike for the Potters, who had not defeated Chelsea since April 1975.

Manchester United also had a Saturday to forget as they fell 1-0 at home to Newcastle United, who had not won at Old Trafford in 41 years. Yohan Cabaye scored the match’s lone goal in the 61st minute, finishing off a cross from teammate Moussa Sissoko. The ninth-place Red Devils’ 1-0 loss marked the first time they had fallen in back-to-back home league matches since 2002 and ended with fans booing first-year manager David Moyes, who lost to former club Everton by the same scoreline earlier in the week.

Here are the results from this weekend’s English Premier League action:

Newcastle United 1, Manchester United 0
Crystal Palace 2, Cardiff City 0
Liverpool 4, West Ham United 1
Southampton 1, Manchester City 1
Stoke City 3, Chelsea 2
Norwich City 2, West Bromwich Albion 0
Tottenham Hotspur 2, Sunderland 1
Fulham 2, Aston Villa 0
Arsenal 1, Everton 1

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GERMANY

Bayern Munich crushed Werder Bremen by a score of 7-0 this weekend, continuing their dominating run of form in Bundesliga competition. The defending champions were awarded an own goal from Werder Bremen’s Assani Lukimya-Mulongoti, and they scored two more times before the halftime whistle for their biggest first-half lead of the season. Franck Ribery scored two goals and added an assist in the rout, which put Bayern’s goal differential through 15 matches at an impressive +32 margin.

Borussia Monchengladbach maintained their fourth place position and brought themselves level with Borussia Dortmund on points with their 2-1 home win against Schalke 04. Jefferson Farfan put the visitors out in front with an early penalty, but Raffael leveled in the 24th minute with a long-distance strike. Schalke’s Benedikt Howedes received his second yellow card after a handball in the box just before halftime, and Max Kruse scored from the penalty spot to give Monchengladbach their sixth consecutive victory.

Here are the results from this weekend’s Bundesliga action:

Nurnberg 1, Mainz 1
Borussia Monchengladbach 2, Schalke 1
Hoffenheim 2, Eintracht Frankfurt 1
Augsburg 1, Hamburg 0
Stuttgart 4, Hannover 2
Bayern Munich 7, Werder Bremen 0
Bayer Leverkusen 1, Borussia Dortmund 0
Wolfsburg 3, Freiburg 0
Hertha Berlin 2, Eintracht Braunschweig 0

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ITALY

Second-place AS Roma ended their streak of four consecutive draws and grabbed all three points in their home match against Fiorentina on Sunday, which finished 2-1. Maicon opened the scoring with a 7th-minute tap-in, and Juan Vargas equalized for Fiorentina 22 minutes later off a pass from Nenad Tomovic. Former Arsenal winger Gervinho, who was heavily involved in the buildup for Roma’s first goal, recorded the match-winning assist to Mattia Destro off a 67th-minute corner kick.

Third-place Napoli were a part of a wild 3-3 draw against Udinese on Saturday, causing them to fall back five points behind Roma after the capital club’s Sunday victory. Goran Pandev scored a first-half brace in the span of three minutes, but a Federico Fernandez own goal and a second-half stunner from Bruno put Udinese right back into the thick of it. Napoli’s Blerim Dzemaili netted another go-ahead goal one minute after Bruno’s equalizer, and Dusan Basta set up a fast-paced finish in the 80th minute with the match’s six goal.

Here are the results from this weekend’s Serie A action:

Juventus 2, Bologna 0
Livorno 2, AC Milan 2
Napoli 3, Udinese 3
AS Roma 2, Fiorentina 1
Cagliari 2, Genoa 1
Hellas Verona 2, Atalanta 1
Sampdoria 2, Catania 1
Chievo Verona 1, Sassuolo 0
Torino 1, Lazio 0
Inter Milan 3, Parma 3

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FRANCE

First-place Paris Saint-Germain did not stay down for long in Ligue 1 play as they thrashed Sochaux 5-0 on Saturday. PSG were coming off their first league loss in 28 matches, but Thiago Silva’s 14th-minute goal kick-started a rout against the league’s worst team. Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani each scored in the second half, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic put his signature on the result with two goals in the final five minutes of play for the defending league champions.

Lille lost control of second place and their 12-match shutout streak Sunday in a 1-0 road defeat at Bordeaux. Landry N’Guemo’s 27th-minute shot deflected off defender Simon Kjaer and into Vincent Enyeama net for the only goal of the match. Lille, who now trail AS Monaco by two points and PSG by four points, only had one shot on goal Sunday as they were unable to take advantage of a 58th-minute red card on Bordeaux’s Maxime Poundje.

Here are the results from this weekend’s Ligue 1 action:

Nantes 1, Marseille 0
Paris Saint-Germain 5, Sochaux 0
Lorient 2, Stade Rennes 0
Saint-Etienne, Evian Thonon Gaillard (POSTPONED)
Stade de Reims 1, Nice 0
Valenciennes 1, Guingamp 1
Bordeaux 1, Lille 0
Lyon 3, Bastia 1
Toulouse 1, Montpellier 1
AS Monaco 1, Ajaccio 0

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What do you think of this weekend’s European league action? Think Everton can continue to be a threat to the Top 4 after their draw at Arsenal? See Dortmund overcoming their slump in Champions League and Bundesliga play? Which other results caught your eye this weekend?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Girouds shot at the end of the game was sublimely struck, nearly a beautiful goal. Deulofeu’s goal was a powerful strike as well, Everton definitely deserved a point (or more) today, really good performance

    Reply

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