Brad Friedel’s Aston Villa defeats Marcus Hahnemann’s Wolves 2-1 in English Premier League

Friedel emerges triumphant in battle of US keepers

LONDON — Brad Friedel came out on top in a matchup against fellow American goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann and Aston Villa edged Wolverhampton 2-1 in the Premier League Sunday thanks to a late winner by former England striker Emile Heskey.

Hahnemann was left helpless as Heskey latched onto a left-wing cross by Stephen Warnock to direct a powerful header in off the post in the 88th minute, lifting Villa to fifth in the standings.

In other matches, Manchester United drew 2-2 at Bolton, failing to capitalize on losses by Chelsea and Arsenal on Saturday, and Stoke rallied to beat Newcastle 2-1 away.

Villa went in front when Stewart Downing applied a close-range finish past Hahnemann off a cross into the box by Marc Albrighton.

Friedel made some great saves, including a double stop in the space of five seconds to deny Kevin Doyle and Steven Fletcher in the first half, and was unfortunate to be beaten in the 61st minute.

Wolves winger Matt Jarvis sent a speculative center into the box that evaded everyone and crept into the far corner, catching Friedel flat-footed.

United could have moved within a point of league leader Chelsea with a win, but needed a 74th-minute equalizer by substitute Michael Owen to get a point and move to second in the standings. Chelsea’s season-opening win streak ended at five matches after a 1-0 loss to Manchester City on Saturday, while Arsenal fell 3-2 at home to West Bromwich Albion and dropped to third.

“With the results this weekend, it was an opportunity to close that gap at the top but it wasn’t to be,” Owen said. “We were helped with a few nice results, but it’s a long season and we’ll bounce back.”

Portugal winger Nani had equalized the early opener by Bolton defender Zat Knight before Martin Petrov gave the hosts the lead for the second time.

Owen came off the bench in the 71st minute and glanced home Nani’s free kick three minutes later with his first touch in the match to leave United three points behind Chelsea.

ROME (AP) — Mauro Zarate scored to give Lazio a 1-0 win over Chievo Verona and a share of first place in the Serie A with defending champion Inter Milan, which lost 1-0 at Roma on Saturday.

Zarate scored in the 69th minute, slotting his low shot past goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino. Inter and Lazio have 10 points from five matches — one more than Chievo and Brescia.

Also Sunday, Bari beat Brescia 2-1, Napoli topped Cesena 4-1, Catania and Bologna drew 1-1, Fiorentina blanked Parma 2-0, Palermo tied Lecce 2-2, and Sampdoria and Udinese played a scoreless draw.

BERLIN (AP) — Grafite scored two goals for the second straight game to lead Wolfsburg to a 2-1 home victory over Freiburg for its third straight win in the Bundesliga.

Grafite’s first goal in the 15th minute was canceled out by Papiss Demba Cisse 10 minutes later. Grafite struck the winner in the 64th minute to move his side to sixth in the standings.

In Sunday’s other match, Mohammed Abdellaoue scored in the 33rd minute to give Hannover a 1-0 victory at Kaiserslautern.

AMSTERDAM (AP) — NEC Nijmegen’s Lasse Schone scored one goal and set up another in a 4-0 victory that sent Feyenoord to its fourth loss in seven Dutch league games.

Kees Luijckx and Joonas Kolkka scored for NAC Breda in a 2-0 win over Willem II, Vitesse Arnhem beat Excelsior Rotterdam 2-0, and Ruud Boymans made up for Patrick Paauwe’s penalty miss by scoring in the 42rd as VVV-Venlo beat De Graafschap 1-0.

PARIS (AP) — Toulouse missed the chance to tie Saint-Etienne atop the French league when it drew 1-1 at home with Lille.

Ivory Coast forward Gervinho’s third league goal of the season gave Lille a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute. Antoine Devaux equalized in the 75th for Toulouse.

Brest beat Valenciennes 1-0 at home on a 77th-minute goal from striker Nolan Roux.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — American midfielder Benny Feilhaber scored his fifth goal in three games and had two assists, leading AGF Aarhus over Koge 3-2 in the Danish second tier.

Feilhaber broke a 2-2 tie when he scored on a free kick from an angle and a distance of about 23 yards two minutes into second-half injury time.