Clint Dempsey and Fulham headlined another day of National Teamers in action in England's Premier League. Fulham beat Arsenal 2-1 at Craven Cottage, the latest in a series of games where elite clubs have stumbled. Arsenal led from the 21st minute, but were reduced to ten men when Johan Djourou was sent off in the 78th. Fulham's Steve Sidwell equalized in the 85th, and Bobby Zamora won the game with a stoppage time goal.
"I love my players, especially when they score goals," Fulham manager Martin Jol said.
The news wasn't so good at Villa Park, with Brad Guzan in goal for Aston Villa's 2-0 loss to Swansea City. Swansea scored in the 4th and 47th minutes, with Michal Vorm only needing a single save for the shutout.
"It was so disappointing to see us take three positive steps forward and then to take steps back, it's that consistency thing," Villa manager Alex McLeish said. "You can't give goals like that away. That's first and foremost. But we never really had the inspiration in the forward areas."
Zak Whitbread got the start in Norwich City's 2-1 win over QPR at Loftus Road. QPR were up 11 minutes in, but Norwich leveled the score through Anthony Pilkington in the 42nd and got a winner from Steve Morison in the 83rd. Norwich are now 9th in the Premier League table.
A league down, Jonathan Spector got the start in a game bookended with goals. Home side Petersborough United were up before the first minute was over, and Birmingham City needed stoppage time to come up with an equalizer from the penalty spot and split the points.
Portugal, and Oguchi Onyewu scored in the 88th minute for Sporting against Rio Ave in the Taca da Liga (aka, the League Cup). The Taca da Liga setup isn't exactly straight forward, with a round 1 group stage leading to a playoff round, then a second group stage, and then the two-leg semifinals and one-off final. Sporting's game against Rio Ave was their Group A opener.
Did Not Play: Eric Lichaj (Villa 0 - Swansea 2), Robbie Findley (Nottingham Forest 3 - Ipswich Town 1),
