Man City hit back for draw but loses ground on Man United in Premier League

Man City loses ground on United despite draw

LONDON — Manchester City got a 1-1 draw at Wigan on Sunday yet fell further behind Manchester United in the Premier League standings.

After Charles N’Zogbia given Wigan the lead in first half injury time, Martin Petrov tied it two minutes into the second half. City had to play the last 35 minutes with 10 men after fullback Pablo Zabaleta was sent off for a second yellow card.

City got a point and stayed fifth but is now five points behind leader Man United with a game in hand.

Despite seeing his side miss a chance to move up, City manager Mark Hughes showed he had the depth to deal with injuries to key players, such as strikers Robinho and Craig Bellamy and defender Kolo Toure.

“That’s what we had to address in the closed season,” said Hughes, whose club’s wealthy owner, Sheik Mansour, has helped him strengthen the squad with more than $200 million.

“The depth of the squad in terms of numbers and quality wasn’t correct and we have done really well in that regard. We have been able to bring in good quality players so that when one player has gone out of the team I can bring in quality to compensate.”

In Sunday’s other game, Blackburn came from behind to beat neighbor Burnley 3-2 in their first top flight league meeting for 43 years.

In Saturday’s games, Manchester United regained top spot by beating neighbor Bolton 2-1 while Chelsea slipped to second after losing 2-1 at Aston Villa.

The big talking point, however, was Sunderland’s goal in a 1-0 victory over Liverpool. Darren Bent’s shot struck a beach ball which had been thrown onto the field by a Liverpool fan and was deflected past goalkeeper Pepe Reina.

Although Liverpool didn’t complain, referee Mike Jones’ decision to award the goal was condemned on Sunday by two former top flight refs, who said he should have disallowed it.

MILAN (AP) — Sampdoria drew 1-1 at Lazio and missed a chance to tie Inter Milan at the top of the Serie A.

Giampaolo Pazzini gave Sampdoria the lead in the 40th minute, but Francelino Matuzalem equalized for Lazio two minutes later.

Inter leads the standings with 19 points following its 5-0 win over Genoa on Saturday. Sampdoria is second with 17, followed by Juventus and Fiorentina with 15 points each.

FRANKFURT (AP) — Defending champion Wolfsburg kept pace with the top teams in the Bundesliga, getting a 2-1 home victory against Borussia Moenchengladbach, which got its goal from American Michael Bradley.

Alexander Madlung scored for Wolfsburg in first-half injury time and Christian Gentner made it 2-0 two minutes into second-half stoppage time. A minute later, Bradley cut the deficit to 2-1.

The win gives Armin Veh’s Wolfsburg side 16 points in fifth place, five points behind leader Bayer Leverkusen.

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Kevin Strootman scored a late winner and Sparta Rotterdam beat Feyenoord 2-1 in a fiery derby that included three red cards.

Winger Rydell Poepon’s 57th minute equalizer canceled out Andre Bahia’s first half opener for Feyenoord. Strootman got a 84th minute winner to steer his club out of the relegation zone in the Dutch league.

Feyenoord had forwards Jon Dahl Tomasson and Sekou Cisse dismissed in the second half for separate reckless challenges while Poepon was sent off after picking up his second yellow card in the 69th.

FC Twente maintained its unbeaten start to the season with a 3-2 win over defending champion AZ Alkmaar Saturday while PSV Eindhoven beat SC Heerenveen 1-0. Twente leads the league standings with 26 points. PSV is next with 24, one more than Ajax, which beat Willem II Saturday. Feyenoord has 20.