Aston Villa ended Manchester United's six-game winning streak managing a 1-1 draw Saturday afternoon with Radamel Falcao helping the Red Devil's maintain their top three spot in the English Premier League (EPL) standings.

Despite a strong start by Manchester United, Aston Villa forward Christian Benteke struck first, catching Manchester United keeper David De Gea off guard after blasting the free kick into the top left corner of the net to put Villa up 1-0 in the 18th minute of the match.

Aston Villa tried to hang on to the lead with American keeper Brad Guzman ending the day with eight saves for the club. But Colombian striker Radamel Falcao, making only his second start of the season battling injuries all season long since his loan from French Ligue 1 club AS Monaco, headed Ashley Young's cross in the 53rd minute to tie up the match 1-1 for his second goal of the season.

Manchester United failed to capitalized on Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor getting red carded after a hard foul on Young in the 65th minute, ending the game with a 1-1 draw. Aston Villa coach Paul Lambert expressed anger after the game regarding the officiating of the match.

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"I didn't think it was a sending off to be fair," said Lambert after the game. "Ashley Young has said to Brad Guzan that he made the foul on Gabriel Agbonlahor. That was not a sending off, everyone in the ground saw that."

Manchester United coach Louis van Gaal was not satisfied with his team's performance, who ended the day in third place with 32 points, annoyed his team left two points on the field after playing against a 10-man Aston Villa squad late in the match, as the Red Devils try to chase down second-place Manchester City and first-place Chelsea -- who plays Monday against Stoke City, both six points ahead of them.

"We dropped two points," said van Gaal. "We were the better team and that's frustrating when you're the better team and you don't win these kind of games."

Manchester City pummeled 17th-place Crystal Palace 3-0 thanks to a pair of goals by Spaniard David Silva and Yaya Toure. Manchester City struggled to find the back of the net during the first half of the match, but coach Manuel Pellegrini was happy with his attackers by the end of the game considering the club has been playing without Argentinian striker Sergio Aguero, the leading EPL scorer with 14 goals for the year, who has been out of action with a knee injury.

"I enjoyed the way the team worked the whole week, to work in a different way without strikers," said Pellegrini after the match. "Palace are a team who know how to defend. It was a great job to score three goals. The way we had chances was by moving the ball. David Silva is a top player with lots of quality. We are not just Sergio Aguero, we work hard every day."

West Ham United vs Leicester City

Fourth place West Ham United, eight points behind Chelsea and trying to earn a Champions League berth, defeated last place Leicester City 2-0 thanks to goals by Andy Carroll (third of the season) and Stewart Downing, while fifth place Southampton snapped a four-game losing streak, including a Capital One Cup loss to third-tier Football League One club Sheffield United, defeating Everton. Everton forward Romelu Lukaku put his team behind 1-0 with an own-goal, while Graziano Pelle and Maya Yoshida put goals past American keeper Tim Howard to beat the Toffees 3-0.

Southampton vs Everton

"Maybe the first goal was a little bit lucky but second half we controlled the game," said Southampton coach Ronald Koeman. "[Everton] didn't create a lot, Fraser [Forster] had two fantastic saves in the last 15 minutes. The team was outstanding and the team was the key to win the game."

Results from the rest of the weekend's EPL games:
Queens Park Rangers 3 - West Bromwich Albion 2
Newcastle 0 - Sunderland 1
Hull City 0 - Swansea City 1
Tottenham 2 - Burnley FC 1
Newcastle 0 - Sunderland 1
Liverpool 2 - Arsenal 2

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