Howard error denies Everton win at Liverpool
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United States goalkeeper Tim Howard cost Everton a victory in its Premier League match against local rival Liverpool by giving up the equalizing penalty in a 2-2 draw at Anfield on Sunday.
Howard bundled over Argentina midfielder Maxi Rodriguez in the area in the 67th minute and Dirk Kuyt converted the penalty kick to rescue the home side a point.
The result left Liverpool manager and club legend Kenny Dalglish, who made a dramatic return for a second spell in charge last weekend, winless after three games back in control of the team.
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Portugal midfielder Raul Meireles gave Liverpool the lead in the 29th but Sylvain Distin and Jermaine Beckford scored goals for Everton in the space of six minutes at the start of the second half to turn the game on its head.
Manchester United survived the second-half ejection of right back Rafael to hold Tottenham to a 0-0 draw, keep its unbeaten run intact and remain top of the Premier League ahead of Manchester City on goal difference.
Tottenham needed a win to go above Chelsea into fourth place and almost took maximum points when Rafael van der Vaart's curling shot in the 80th flew narrowly over.
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City beat Wolverhampton 4-3 on Saturday and third-place Arsenal also won, 3-0 at bottom side West Ham, to move two points behind the joint leaders. United has two games in hand over City and one over Arsenal.
The top five are separated by eight points with a little more than half the season gone.
In the other matches, Birmingham drew 1-1 with Aston Villa and Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan scored in second-half stoppage time to earn Sunderland a 1-1 draw at home to local rival Newcastle.
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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Jeremy Mathieu and Pablo Hernandez scored late goals to give Valencia a 2-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna to strengthen its hold on fourth place in the Spanish league.
Mathieu raced down the left flank to reach Tino Costa's lobbed pass and fire beyond goalkeeper Daniel Aranzubia from a very tight angle in the 77th minute. Hernandez then caught the Deportivo defense pressing forward for the equalizer to score the second just before the final whistle, as Valencia extended its winning streak to four games.
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Valencia has scored late winners in its past three games to move three points clear of fifth-place Espanyol.
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ROME (AP) — Lazio joined Napoli in second place in Serie A with a 1-0 win over Sampdoria thanks to a late winner from substitute Libor Kozak.
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The 21-year-old Czech forward headed in from the edge of the box in the 84th minute to break a deadlock at the Stadio Olimpico.
AS Roma also got a late winner, with Fabio Simplicio directing the ball in off defender Max Pellegrino in the 89th for a 1-0 win at Cesena.
Injury-plagued Juventus pulled out a 2-1 win over Bari with a late winner from Alberto Aquilani to earn its first victory in Serie A since Dec. 12.
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Captain Alessandro Del Piero curled in a free kick over Cesena's wall to put Juve ahead in the 43rd before Hungary forward Gergely Rudolf equalized in the 57th.
AC Milan, which visits Lecce later, leads with 40 points. Lazio and Napoli are next with 37 each, Roma has 35, Juventus 34 and Inter Milan 32 with two matches to make up.
Elsewhere, Antonio Di Natale scored his league-leading 14th goal as Udinese defeated Genoa 4-2 to move into eighth; Brescia beat 10-man Parma 2-0 to give coach Mario Beretta a much-needed win following three consecutive losses; and Catania and Chievo Verona drew 1-1.
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Also, Cagliari beat Palermo 3-1 to put a dent in the Sicilian club's Champions League hopes.
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FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Hannover rose to second place in the Bundesliga by winning 3-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt.
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Mohammed Abdellaoue gave the hosts the lead in the 15th minute, Christian Schulz made it 2-0 after 21 minutes before Didier Ya Konan finished off Frankfurt with his goal in the 89th.
Hannover's victory comes after neither Bayer Leverkusen nor Mainz could win to gain ground on Bundesliga leader Borussia Dortmund.
Leverkusen lost 3-1 at home on Friday to Dortmund, which is 12 points clear at the top.
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In the other game on Sunday, 10-man Kaiserlautern came back to draw 1-1 with Cologne at home.
Cologne was missing Youssef Mohamad, Kevin McKenna, Miso Brecko, Konstantinos Giannoulis and Mato Jajalo plus assistant coach Thomas Hassler after they were all infected with swine flu.
Cologne went ahead on one of the oddest goals of the season. Kaiserlautern defender Rodnei played a back pass to his 'keeper that glanced off the post, and Lukas Podolski blasted home the rebound in the 29th minute.
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Kaiserlautern striker Srdjan Lakic was ejected in the 39th minute before Jan Moravek equalized for Kaiserslautern six minutes after half time.