WEEKEND WRAP UP

Scotland:
With a 2-0 win on Saturday, DaMarcus Beasley and Rangers made it two victories in a row before they travel to Spain for their crunch Champions League match with Barcelona. Beasley retained his place in the starting eleven as Rangers hosted Inverness at Ibrox, and it took only seconds for the home side to gain the lead through Kris Boyd. With their early advantage, Rangers didn’t look back, and the result was put out of reach for the visitors with an additional goal in the second half.

Portugal:
Over on the Iberian Peninsula, Freddy Adu again came off the bench for Benfica, who needed more late heroics to earn a 2-1 win against Paços Ferreira. This time the goal came from Greek international Kostas Katsouranis, after he tapped in a rebound off a Rui Costa free kick in the 84th minute. Adu came off the bench in the 81st minute for his fourth consecutive appearance for Benfica, who will travel to Glasgow to face Celtic this week. Check out highlights of the game here.

England:
Tim Howard and Everton made it four wins in a row with their 3-1 victory over Birmingham on Saturday. The Toffees were in danger of dropping points, after Birmingham’s Olivier Kapo tied the game for Steve Bruce’s side in the 80th minute. However, late goals from Lee Carsley and record-signing Yakubu stole victory for an Everton team that now sits at eighth in the table, just shy of a qualification spot for Europe. Speaking of Europe, David Moyes’ team will travel to Germany this week, where they’ll face FC Nürnberg on Thursday in the UEFA Cup. You can see highlights of this weekend’s game here.

Jonathan Spector again came off the bench for West Ham early in the second half, this time with the Hammers defending a 1-0 lead against Bolton. Unfortunately, however, a late stoppage time goal from Bolton's Kevin Nolan meant that the game finished in a draw and the points were shared. Full highlights of the game here.

Meanwhile, Derby County’s troubles are mounting, as they went down 2-0 to Aston Villa. Neither Eddie Lewis nor Benny Feilhaber appeared in the game.

In the Championship, Watford suffered their first loss of the season, crashing to a 3-0 defeat at home to West Bromich Albion. After only 10 minutes, Jay DeMerit collided with an opposing player and had to be stretchered off with what looked to be a calf injury. We’ll keep you updated as we hear the prognosis.

Also in the championship, Sheffield Wednesday earned a 2-1 victory over Plymouth, as Frank Simek made his return to the starting lineup after a brief layoff through injury. The win moves the Owls away from the relegation zone, and they’ll look to further climb the table when they host West Brom on Tuesday.

Holland:
Michael Bradley and Heerenveen beat PSV 2-1 to move up to fifth in the table. Bradley was again in the starting lineup for Heerenveen, whose victory ended a bad week for the Eindhoven club: on Wednesday, manager Ronald Koeman departed the club to take over at Valencia.

Belgium:
Standard Liege and Oguchi Onyewu drew 0-0 on Saturday against Excelsior. Despite remaining undefeated on the season, the draw sees Gooch’s club fall to second place, one point behind Club Brugge.