Landon Donovan impresses in Everton debut, 2-2 tie with Arsenal on snowy day in Premier League

Donovan’s Everton debut ends in draw at Arsenal

LONDON — Landon Donovan debuted for Everton on Saturday, setting up one goal in a 2-2 draw with Arsenal on a day when snow disrupted the Premier League.

Donovan is on loan for 10 weeks from the Los Angeles Galaxy. The MLS and United States star sent a corner kick in the 12th minute to Leon Osman, whose header put Everton in front.

The lead lasted just 16 minutes. Denilson charged down a clearance, and the ball fell to Andrei Arshavin on the edge of the penalty area. Arshavin fed Eduardo da Silva, who touched a pass back to Denilson and his low strike deflected off Osman past U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard.

With snow blowing around the stadium, Donovan came close to restoring Everton’s lead at the start of the second half. The American weaved into the penalty area, but his curling shot drifted wide.

Everton replaced Donovan with Diniyar Bilyaletdinov in the 68th minute and went ahead again in the 81st minute. Steven Pienaar raced onto a pass from Tim Cahill and chipped past goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.

Everton remained in the bottom half of the standings. Third-place Arsenal squandered a chance to take second place from Manchester United, which profited from a contentious own goal to salvage a 1-1 draw at Birmingham.

United, winner of the last three titles, is one point behind Chelsea, which got a game in hand after its clash with Hull was one of five matches to fall victim to the deep freeze gripping the country.

At a freezing St. Andrews, Birmingham went ahead in the 39th when United failed to deal with James McFadden’s corner, Lee Bowyer headed the ball back across goal and it bounced off Johnny Evans to Cameron Jerome, who slotted home from six yards for his fifth goal of the campaign.

United tied it in the 63rd amid confusion. Scott Dann was under pressure from Park Ji-Sung when he turned a low cross from Patrice Evra past his own goalkeeper, Joe Hart, but the referee’s assistant appeared to have been flagging for offside against Wayne Rooney.

Referee Mark Clattenburg consulted with one of his assistants before awarding the goal, leading to protests from Birmingham players and manager Alex McLeish.

Birmingham had a man advantage from the 84th after Darren Fletcher was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Jerome having been booked just before halftime for a challenge on Bowyer.

MADRID (AP) — Jose Antonio Reyes scored a goal and set up another as Atletico Madrid bounced back from an embarrassing midweek defeat with a 4-0 victory at Valladolid on Saturday.

Atletico’s normally leaky defense didn’t buckle in near-freezing temperatures at the Jose Zorrilla stadium, as Garcia and Nestor Canobbio missed chances before Aguero scored the fourth. The Argentina striker, who replaced Forlan in the 72nd, controlled Antonio Lopez’s cross inside the area before volleying past Villar.

In Saturday’s late games, Sevilla looked to snap a two-game league losing streak against Racing Santander and Villarreal meets Almeria.

ROME (AP) — Daniele De Rossi scored an early goal to give 10-man AS Roma a 1-0 win over Chievo Verona in the Serie A on Saturday.

De Rossi found the net with a header in the second minute as Roma improved to 32 points.

Inter Milan, which beat Siena 4-3 on Walter Samuel’s injury-time goal, is top with 45 points, 11 more than AC Milan, which has played two fewer matches. Juventus is next with 33.

Massimo Maccarone opened the scoring for Siena in the 18th, but Inter responded with goals from Diego Milito and Wesley Sneijder before Albin Ekdal brought the visitors level before halftime.

Maccarone’s second in the 65th appeared to have handed bottom team Siena a vital win, but a second free kick from Sneijder and Samuel’s late strike gave Inter the win.

Roma goalkeeper Doni was sent off in the 12th after he handled the ball outside the area to stop striker Elvis Abbruscato from scoring.

Despite playing a man down, Roma came closest to scoring more goals. David Pizarro missed a penalty in the 56th minute after Luca Toni was brought down, and Toni headed wide from a cross by Taddei.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Djibril Cisse scored one goal in each half to lead Panathinaikos Athens to a 2-1 win over Xanthi in the Greek league on Saturday.

Panathinaikos now has 44 points at the top of the 16-team league, eight more than defending champion Olympiakos which hosts Larissa on Sunday.

Also Saturday, it was: Ergotelis 0, Panionios 0 and Levadiakos 0, PAOK 2.