Everton ralles to tie United; Chelsea stays on top

Posted Sunday, September 12, 2010 by YAHOO Sport

LONDON (AP)—Manchester United conceded two stoppage-time goals to draw 3-3 at Everton, while Chelsea maintained a perfect start to its title defense by beating West Ham 3-1 in the Premier League on Saturday.

United led 3-1 in the 90th minute even without Wayne Rooney, who was given a day off against his former team amid newspaper reports about his private life. But Tim Cahill sparked Everton’s comeback with a headed goal and Mikel Arteta had time to score an equalizer.

Chelsea won its fourth straight with little resistance at West Ham, which is still without a point after four matches. Michael Essien netted Chelsea’s first goal after two minutes and headed in its third in the 83rd.

Arsenal is two points behind Chelsea in second after routing Bolton 4-1, while big-spending Manchester City was held to a 1-1 draw by Blackburn to collect only one point from its last two matches.

Tottenham was held 1-1 by West Bromwich, as was Sunderland at Wigan, while Blackpool won its second match since being promoted, prevailing 2-0 over fellow newcomer Newcastle.

Fulham’s 2-1 victory over Wolverhampton came at a cost, with Bobby Zamora injuring his leg to be ruled out for four months.

United goalie Tim Howard had made two excellent saves in the first half. After diving one way, the American lifted his trailing leg to knock away a deflected shot by Paul Scholes in the 32nd minute, then five minutes later used a wrist to tip a 12-yard effort by Ryan Giggs over the crossbar.

“The first half we dominated and we should have went in 1-0,” Howard said. “Obviously they got the goal and in the second half they were powerful and went over the top of us. But we had spirit and we had fight and we got the point, which was important.”

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP)—Javier Pinola converted a late penalty to clinch a 1-1 draw for Nuremberg at Hamburger SV, while Bayer Leverkusen rallied from a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 at 10-man Hannover in the Bundesliga.

Stuttgart fell to its third straight defeat, 2-1 at Freiburg, and Wolfsburg also remained without a point after falling 2-0 at Borussia Dortmund.

Greek striker Fanis Gekas, who retired from international soccer this week, scored twice in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 4-0 win at Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Hoffenheim sent Schalke to its third loss with a 2-0 victory on Friday and now has nine points after three wins in three games.

Bayern Munich hosts Werder Bremen later Saturday.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP)—Kenny Miller scored in the 90th minute to maintain Rangers’ perfect start to its Scottish title defense with a 2-1 victory at Hamilton, and Celtic also went to 4-0 by overcoming Hearts 3-0.

Miller has scored in each of the defending champion’s four league matches.

Croatia striker Nikica Jelavic headed in his first Rangers goal in the sixth minute, but teammate Madjid Bougherra turned the ball into his own net 50 minutes later.

James Forrest put Celtic ahead in the 28th by knocking in Daryl Murphy’s cross from close range.

Shaun Maloney scored a second in the 44th. In second-half stoppage time, substitute Paddy McCourt beat three players before sending the ball over goalkeeper Marian Kello.