Mark Schwarzer was back in fine form against Man City, Brett Holman had two great chances for Villa while Eli Babalj scored his first goal for Red Star and Nick Carle impressed in UAE.

In England's Premier League on Saturday, Mark Schwarzer was back in some stellar form but unable to prevent Manchester City knocking off Fulham 2-1 thanks to Edin Dzeko's late winner.

Schwarzer made a fine late first-half save to deny David Silva, while minutes later he did well to tip away the Spaniard's effort after latching on to Carlos Tevez's mis-hit shot, however he could only parry it as far as Sergio Aguero who tapped it home from close range.

On Sunday in the EPL, Brett Holman was busy throughout and forced two fine first-half saves in Aston Villa's 1-1 home draw with West Bromwich, while Chris Herd was left out after playing in midweek.

Holman, who played a full game, firstly launched a sweetly struck shot which forced Ben Foster to tip it over the bar, before shortly after bursting forward only for the Baggies keeper to deny him again.

Of the two chances, Villa boss Paul Lambert told BBC: “That second save was world class. You need to give the keeper a lot of credit for that one and even the first one which was a dipping shot.”

In Serbia's Super Liga on Saturday, Eli Babalj came off the bench to score his first goal for Red Star in their 3-1 triumph over Smederevo.

Babalj, who was brought on after 84 minutes, latched on to a throughball four minutes after his introduction before a calm low finish to make it 3-0. The goal is a boost for Babalj's first-team hopes after a training ground bust-up last month.

In UAE's Pro-League on Friday, Nick Carle was impressive pulling the strings in the centre of midfield, playing a big part in both goals as Bani Yas won 2-0 over Al Ittihad Kalba. Carle, who put in a full shift, impressed in the absence of big recruit Mohamed Zidan.

Firstly, the on-loan man fired a ball back into the box after a corner which deflected through to Ismail Belmaalem to score. Carle then provided a wonderful left-foot throughball for Andre Senghor's goal on 23 minutes.

Elsewhere in UAE, Socceroos skipper Lucas Neill was involved in a defensive mix-up which led to Al Nasr's opening goal in their 2-2 draw with Al Wasl.

Neill, who played a full game, had a communication breakdown with Ahmed Mahmoud with both going for the same ball and failing to clear, allowing Nashat Akram to head into an open goal on 27 minutes.

In Germany's Bundesliga on Friday, Robbie Kruse played a full game and was lively throughout as Fortuna Dusseldorf came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Schalke.

“The first half was disappointing,” Kruse told bundesliga.com. “We were over-awed from the occasion and showed too much respect... In the second half we played some great football, created numerous chances and could have won the game.”

On Sunday in the Bundesliga, Nikita Rukavytsya made his second consecutive start, playing a full game and having a hand in the second goal as Mainz won 2-0 away to Wolfsburg.

Rukavytsya won the ball near the corner flag on the left side, before taking on Josue and laying off for Andreas Ivanschitz to cross to Adam Szalai to convert. In the second half, the Aussie hesitated a moment too long when presented with a good chance but Mainz would grind out a much-needed win.

In the Dutch Eredivisie on Saturday, Tommy Oar was lively and went close to scoring as FC Utrecht went down 2-1 at home to Vitesse. Oar played a full game in the left side of midfield while Adam Sarota got through 82 minutes on the right. Michael Zullo was an unused sub.

Oar got on the end of Alexander Gerndt's backpost lob in the fifth minute but had his shot blocked, while on 31 minutes he launched a powerful strike from long range which fizzed narrowly over the crossbar. Late in the contest with Utrecht down 2-1, Oar whipped in a wonderful corner which Jan Wuytens headed narrowly over.

Germany

Mitchell Langerak (Dortmund): Warmed the pine in the 5-0 victory over Moenchengladbach.

Mathew Leckie (FSV Frankfurt): Out injured for the 3-0 loss to Aalen on Friday.

England

Brad Jones (Liverpool): Was an unused sub in the 5-2 win at Norwich.

Adam Federici (Reading): Absent again for the 2-2 draw with Newcastle.

Neil Kilkenny (Bristol City): Won his first start of the season against his old club, playing a full game surprisingly at the expense of Marvin Elliott in a 3-2 home loss to Leeds.

Mile Jedinak (Crystal Palace): Put in a full shift in the 1-0 win at Bolton.

Shane Lowry (Millwall): Played a full game in the 2-2 draw at Burnley.

Massimo Luongo (Ipswich): Came off the bench at the break in the 1-1 draw at Barnsley.

Paddy Kisnorbo (Leeds): Failed to even make the bench in the 3-2 win at Bristol City.

Dean Bouzanis, James Wesolowski & Alex Cisak (Oldham): Bouzanis deputised again with Cisak on the bench, while Wesolowski started and was replaced late in the 1-0 home loss to Coventry.

Shane Cansdell-Sherriff & Bailey Wright (Preston): Wright played a full game, while Cansdell-Sherriff sat on the bench in the 3-2 home win over out-of-sorts Yeovil.

Jamie Young (Aldershot): Made some excellent saves in the 2-0 home defeat to York City.

James Meredith (Bradford): Played a full game in the 1-0 home loss to Port Vale.

Aaron Downes (Torquay): Put in a full shift in the 1-1 draw away to Chesterfield.

Italy

James Troisi (Atalanta): Was an unused substitute in his side's crushing 5-1 home defeat to Torino.

Carl Valeri (Sassuolo): Out injured (hamstring) for the 1-0 victory over Ascoli. Valeri has been out since sustaining the injury on August 28.

Netherlands

Jason Davidson (Heracles): Out injured (ankle) for the 3-3 home draw with ADO Den Haag.

Corey Gameiro (Excelsior): Was a 63rd minute substitute in the 2-0 home loss to De Graafschap.

Around Europe

Luke Wilkshire (Dinamo Moscow): Played a full game at right-back, picking up a second-half yellow card, in the 2-0 win away to CSKA Moscow.

Ryan McGowan & Dylan McGowan (Hearts): Ryan played a full game in the 3-1 home loss to Kilmarnock, while Dylan was an unused substitute.

James Holland (Austria Wien): Put in a full shift in the 1-1 home draw with Wolfsberger AC.

Kerem Bulut (Mlada Boleslav): Was a half-time substitute as his side fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Banik Ostrava.

Steve Lustica (Hajduk Split): Was an unused sub as Hajduk lost the big clash with Dinamo Zagreb 3-1.

Brent McGrath (Brondby): Not in the squad for the 3-2 loss away to Randers.

Apostolos Giannou (PAOK): Was an unused sub in the 4-1 victory over Aris.

Japan

Joshua Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus): Only played the first half in the 5-0 hammering from Albirex Niigata which effectively ends his side's remote title hopes. Nagoya are seventh, 12 points behind leaders Sanfrecce Hiroshima with seven games to play.

Jade North (Consadole Sapporo): Put in a full shift as his side were all but officially relegated with a 1-0 loss to Kawasaki Frontale. Consadole are 21 points and goal difference away from safety with seven games to play.

China

Joel Griffiths (Shanghai Shenhua): Started and was replaced in second-half stoppage time as his side moved up to eighth with a 2-1 win over Henan Construction on Friday. Griffiths had an early header go wide, before smartly laying off for Didier Drogba to provide the assist for the opening goal.

Rostyn Griffiths (Guangzhou R&F): Absent for his side's 1-0 home victory over Guizhou Renhe.

Dino Djulbic (Guizhou Renhe): Put in a full shift in the loss to Guangzhou R&F.

Daniel Mullen (Dalian Aerbin): Played a full game in the 3-2 loss to Jiangsu Sainty.

West Asia

Mark Bresciano (Al Gharafa): Started and got through 66 minutes in his side's 1-1 draw with Al Arabi.

Matt Spiranovic (Al Arabi): Put in a full shift and picked up a late booking in the draw with Bresciano's Al Gharafa.

Sasa Ognenovski (Umm Salal): Still out with a hamstring injury and missed his side's 2-0 loss to Al Sadd on Friday.

USA

Tim Cahill (New York Red Bulls): Played a full game in the 4-1 victory over Toronto.