By FRANCO PANIZO
Seeing Eric Lichaj's name in Aston Villa's starting line-up might become a frequent occurrence in the coming weeks after he put together a performance that he likely will not forget for the rest of his career.
Making his first Premiership start since December 2010, Lichaj almost single-handedly rescued Aston Villa from defeat against Chelsea. Down 2-0, the Villans cut the deficit when Lichaj launched a long throw-in that was headed home. Lichaj then pulled Aston Villa level, scoring his first goal in the Premier League with a diving effort following a cross from the left. Unfortunately for Aston Villa, Chelsea scored late to take a 4-2 win.
Lichaj was not the only player with that type of performance in the Premiership this weekend. Clint Dempsey paved the way for a Fulham win by scoring his 19th goal across all competitions in the second minute of Fulham's 2-1 triumph over Norwich City. Dempsey went from scorer to provider shortly after, delivering a pinpoint pass that Damien Duff buried into the back of the net.
Jozy Altidore also scored this weekend, netting his 15th goal in all competitions this season in AZ Alkmaar's 2-2 draw with Vitesse Arnhem. Altidore scored the opener when he headed home a cross from the left in the first half of a match that kept AZ within two points of Eredivisie leaders Ajax.
Here is how the Americans Abroad performed this weekend:
ENGLAND
Premiership
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes and made 2 saves in Everton's 2-0 win vs. West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
- Marcus Hahnemann did not dress for Everton.
- Clint Dempsey started, played 90 minutes, had an ASSIST and scored a GOAL in Fulham's 2-1 win vs. Norwich City on Saturday.
- Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made 1 save in Tottenham Hotspur's 3-1 win vs. Swansea City on Sunday.
- Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 4-2 loss vs. Chelsea on Saturday.
- Eric Lichaj started, played 90 minutes, had an ASSIST and scored a GOAL for Aston Villa.
- Tim Ream started and played 90 minutes in Bolton Wanderers' 3-2 win vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
- Stuart Holden did not dress. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Zak Whitbread started and played 45 minutes in Norwich City's 2-1 loss vs. Fulham on Saturday.
- Adam Henley and Blackburn Rovers play Manchester United on Monday.
Championship
- Jonathan Spector did not dress in Birmingham City's 3-1 win vs. Doncaster Rovers on Friday. He is recovering from a thigh injury.
- Conor Doyle did not dress in Derby County's 1-1 draw vs. Bristol City on Saturday. He is recovering from a hamstring injury.
- Robbie Findley did not dress in Nottingham Forest's 3-0 win vs. Crystal Palace on Saturday.
- Daniel Potts did not dress in West Ham United's 4-2 loss vs. Reading on Saturday.
- Robbie Rogers did not dress in Leeds United's 2-0 loss vs. Watford on Saturday.
League One
- Frank Simek started and played 90 minutes in Carlisle United's 2-1 win vs. Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
- Anton Peterlin did not dress in Walsall's 3-3 draw vs. Rochdale on Saturday.
- Mike Grella did not dress in Bury's 2-0 win vs. Tranmere Rovers on Saturday.
SCOTLAND
- Maurice Edu started and played 90 minutes in Rangers' 2-1 win vs. Motherwell on Saturday.
- Carlos Bocanegra did not dress for Rangers. He was serving a suspension for being ejected from last week's game.
- Alejandro Bedoya dressed but did not play for Rangers.
- Dominic Cervi did not dress in Celtic's 2-0 win vs. St Johnstone on Sunday.
ITALY
- Michael Bradley started and played 90 minutes in Chievo Verona's 2-1 win vs. Fiorentina on Sunday.
GERMANY
Bundesliga
- Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96's 2-1 win vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday.
- Jermaine Jones started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Schalke 04's 1-1 draw vs. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Sunday.
- Timmy Chandler started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in FC Nurnberg's 1-0 loss vs. Bayern Munich on Saturday.
- Fabian Johnson started and played 90 minutes in TSG 1899 Hoffenheim's 1-1 draw vs. Schalke 04 on Sunday.
- Danny Williams came off the bench and played 9 minutes for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
- Joe Gyau did not dress for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
- Terrence Boyd did not dress in Borussia Dortmund's 4-4 draw vs. VfB Stuttgart on Friday.
- Alfredo Morales dressed but did not play in Hertha Berlin's 4-1 loss vs. VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.
- David Yelldell dressed but did not play in Bayer Leverkusen's 2-0 loss vs. SC Freiburg on Saturday.
- Andrew Wooten did not dress in Kaiserslautern's 1-0 loss vs. Hamburg SV on Saturday.
2. BUNDESLIGA
- Luis Robles did not dress in Karlsruher SC's 2-0 win vs. FC Union Berlin on Sunday.
- Bobby Wood did not dress in TSV 1860 Munich's 1-0 loss vs. Hansa Rostock on Saturday.
- Matt Taylor dressed but did not play in SC Paderborn 07's 0-0 draw vs. Eintracht Braunschweig on Friday.
FRANCE
- Quentin Westberg dressed but did not play in Evian Thonon Gaillard's 1-0 win vs. Lorient on Saturday.
- Charlie Davies did not dress in Sochaux's 2-1 win vs. Brest on Saturday.
NETHERLANDS
- Jozy Altidore started, played 70 minutes and scored a GOAL in AZ Alkmaar's 2-2 draw vs. Vitesse Arnhem on Sunday.
PORTUGAL
- Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in Sporting CP's 1-0 win vs. Uniao Leiria on Sunday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
RUSSIA
- Eugene Starikov did not dress in Zenit St Petersburg's 2-1 win vs. Spartak Moscow on Sunday.
BELGIUM
- Sacha Kljestan started and played 86 minutes in RSC Anderlecht's 1-1 draw vs. Kortrijk in the Pro League playoffs on Sunday.
- Mikkel Diskerud did not dress in KAA Gent's 3-0 win vs. Standard Liege in the Pro League playoffs on Saturday.
DENMARK
- Michael Parkhurst did not dress in FC Nordsjaelland's 2-0 win vs. HB Koge on Sunday.
- Clarence Goodson started and played 90 minutes in Brondby IF's 1-0 win vs. Odense BK on Sunday.
- Chris Rolfe came off the bench, played 18 minutes and received a RED CARD in Aalborg BK's 1-0 loss vs. AC Horsens on Saturday.
- Conor O'Brien and SonderjyskE play AGF Aarhus on Monday.
- Brad Rusin came off the bench, played 22 minutes and received a yellow card in HB Koge's 2-0 loss vs. FC Nordsjaelland on Sunday.
SWEDEN
- Samuel Petrone did not dress in Mjallby AIF's 0-0 draw vs. AIK on Sunday.
NORWAY
- Josh Gatt started and played 90 minutes in Molde FK's 2-0 loss vs. Haugesund on Sunday.
- Steve Clark started and played 90 minutes in Honefoss BK's 0-0 draw vs. Sogndal on Sunday.
- Ricardo Clark started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Stabaek IF's 5-1 loss vs. Fredrikstad on Sunday.
- Sean Cunningham started and played 90 minutes for Stabaek IF.
MEXICO
- Jose Torres started and played 90 minutes in Pachuca's 1-0 win vs. Club Tijuana on Friday.
- Herculez Gomez did not dress in Santos Laguna's 3-1 win vs. Toluca on Sunday.
- DaMarcus Beasley started, played 88 minutes and had an ASSIST in Puebla's 1-0 win vs. Queretaro on Saturday.
- Sonny Guadarrama did not dress in Atlante's 2-2 draw vs. Jaguares de Chiapas on Saturday.
- Jonathan Bornstein did not dress in Tigres UANL's 4-1 win vs. Morelia on Saturday.
- Adrian Ruelas did not dress in Jaguares de Chiapas' 2-2 draw vs. Atlante on Saturday.
- Michael Orozco Fiscal started and played 90 minutes in San Luis' 3-1 loss vs. Cruz Azul on Saturday.
- Edgar Castillo started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Club Tijuana's 1-0 loss vs. Pachuca on Friday.
- Joe Corona came off the bench and played 30 minutes for Club Tijuana.
- Greg Garza dressed but did not play for Club Tijuana.
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What do you think of these performances? Think Lichaj will get more starts in the near future? How many more goals do you see Dempsey scoring this season? Expecting Altidore to carry his goal-scoring ways over to the U.S. men's national team this summer?
Share your thoughts below.