Van Persie stars in Arsenal win

Son Heung-min finds net for Hamburg


LONDON (AP) ― Netherlands striker Robin van Persie put Arsenal into the top half of the Premier League table with a double in a 2-1 victory over Sunderland while Newcastle denied Tottenham a fifth straight win with a late equalizer in a 2-2 draw on Sunday.

Van Persie again showed his importance to Arsenal by opening the scoring after just 29 seconds at the Emirates and then curling home a free kick seven minutes from time, sandwiching Sebastian Larsson’s sublime equalizer for Sunderland in the 31st.

“Robin van Persie is a special player,” said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, whose team climbed five places to 10th with its third straight home win. “He’s blessed at the moment ― he’s shown what a great player he is when he can be consistently playing.”

Shola Amoebi was fourth-place Newcastle’s savior, coming off the bench to drill in a low shot in the 86th minute and maintain his team’s unbeaten record after eight games.

Newcastle needed to rally twice at St. James’ Park, with Amoebi canceling out Jermain Defoe’s goal in the 68th after Demba Ba leveled in the 48th following Rafael van der Vaart’s opener from the penalty spot before the break.

Spain

Ndri Romaric’s second-half goal lifted Espanyol to a 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano for its first away victory in the Spanish league since January.

After a first half of few scoring chances, the former Sevilla midfielder received the ball inside the area in the 56th minute before slotting home a right-footed shot into the low left corner.

Espanyol ended a two-game losing streak, while promoted side Rayo remained winless in its last four games.

“The team was very eager to break our run of poor results away from home,” said Espanyol coach Mauricio Pochettino. “In today’s game we have shown the discipline needed to play away. These are the kind of games that help you grow and improve.”

Elsewhere, Helder Postiga scored a brace to give Zaragoza a 2-0 win over Real Sociedad at La Romareda stadium.

The Portuguese striker put the hosts ahead in the 11th with spectacular bicycle kick to volley in a cross from Efrain Juarez.

Leonardo Ponzio came close to doubling the lead when his free kick hit the post, and four minutes into the second half the Zaragoza midfielder set up Postiga in the area to cap Zaragoza’s first win in four games.

Italy

Juventus stayed atop Serie A following a 0-0 draw at Chievo Verona, one of five scoreless stalemates in the Italian league Sunday.

The closest either side came to scoring was a header off the post from Alessandro Del Piero in the 73rd minute, three minutes after the 36-year-old Juventus captain came on.

Juventus had another chance in the 75th but Chievo goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino deflected a long effort from Simone Pepe over the bar, and Del Piero preserved the draw by clearing the ball off the line in the 84th following a corner from United States international Michael Bradley.

With new coach Antonio Conte guiding a long list of new players, Juventus remains unbeaten.

Germany

Lukas Podolski scored in each half to give Cologne a 2-0 win over Hannover, costing the visiting side a chance to go second in the Bundesliga on Sunday.

Podolski chipped a free kick over the Hannover wall past the helpless Ron-Robert Zieler in the 24th minute, and sealed the win against the run of play with a fine effort from the left in the 86th.

Earlier Sunday, substitute Ivo Ilicevic’s 73rd-minute goal gave Hamburger SV a 2-1 win at Freiburg, moving the Bundesliga’s bottom side level on points with the home team. South Korea’s Son Heung-min opened the scoring for Hamburg in the 12th, before Papiss Demba Cisse equalized in the 47th.