Altidore's Sunderland escapes drop zone

by Soccer America , Jan 29, 2014

[AMERICANS ABROAD] Jozy Altidore's Sunderland is out of the relegation zone; Clint Dempsey's Fulham fell into the drop zone. The red-hot Black Cats' 1-0 win over Stoke City moved them into 17th place, two points ahead of West Ham and Fulham.

Altidore started and played the first 66 minutes for Sunderland, which is 5-5-5 in its last 15 league games after starting out with one point in its first eight games. The Black Cats finished January with a 6-1-1 record in all competitions.

Brad Guzan's Aston Villa came back from 2-0 down after nine minutes to beat West Brom, 4-3.

REAM UPDATE. Bolton Wanderers defender Tim Ream suffered a broken nose and needed three stitches after taking a hit from QPR striker Charlie Austin in the first 15 seconds of Tuesday's League Championship game.

The incident, which left Ream in doubt for Saturday's game, left Bolton manager Dougie Freedman fuming that Austin was not carded.

"I don't want to say too much because it will end up costing me money,” he said. “I would rather give it to charity. When I go to meetings and they talk about dangerous play and the effect that causes, a guy walks away with three stitches and a broken nose and it seems to be an accident. I find it hard to believe. Was it because it was the first minute of the game? Yes, it was.”

U.S. World Cup Contenders:
GOALKEEPERS:
Tim Howard (90 minutes), Everton (England), 0-4 at Liverpool
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Brad Guzan (90 minutes), Aston Villa (England), 4-3 vs. West Bromwich Albion

DEFENDERS:
Geoff Cameron (90 minutes), Stoke City (England), at Sunderland)
Oguchi Onyewu (90 minutes), Sheffield Wed. (England D2), 1-1 at Millwall
Tim Ream (4 minutes), Bolton Wanderers (England D2), 1-2 at Queens Park Rangers
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Eric Lichaj, Nottingham Forest (England), vs. Watford (Thursday)

MIDFIELDERS:
Brek Shea (90 minutes), Barnsley (England D2), 2-2 vs. Blackburn Rovers
Danny Williams (90 minutes), Reading (England D2), 5-1 vs. Blackpool
Stuart Holden (injured), Bolton Wanderers (England D2), 1-2 at Queens Park Rangers

FORWARDS:
Jozy Altidore (66 minutes), Sunderland (England), 1-0 vs. Stoke City
Clint Dempsey (70 minutes), Fulham (England), 0-2 at Swansea City/

JONES TO TURKEY. Jermaine Jones was in Turkey to finalize a deal that would send him from Schalke 04, which dropped him from the team, to Besiktas. The move comes on the eve of the close of the transfer deadline.