LONDON (AP) ― Everton lost ground on the Premier League’s top three teams after being held to a 1-1 draw at last-place Queens Park Rangers, which is off to its worst start to a season in 21 years. QPR is without a win after eight games.

Everton, which finished a man down after Steven Pienaar was sent off, fell behind on a deflected strike by Junior Hoilett. But the team tied it when Sylvain Distin’s header hit the post and rebounded in off the shoulder of QPR goalkeeper Julio Cesar.

Sunderland escaped with a 1-1 draw against Newcastle thanks to Demba Ba’s 86th-minute own goal. That denied the visitors a victory after playing more than an hour with 10 men following Cheick Tiote’s dismissal.

Italy

Inter Milan rejoined Lazio in third place in Serie A on Sunday with a 2-0 win over Catania.

Antonio Cassano opened the scoring in the 28th minute at the San Siro, heading in a pass from Esteban Cambiasso. Rodrigo Palacio secured the victory with a volley in the 85th.

Inter and Lazio trail leader Juventus by four points, with second-place Napoli one point ahead in second following a 2-0 loss at Juventus on Saturday. Also Saturday, Lazio beat struggling AC Milan 3-2.

Spain

Radamel Falcao scored on a free kick in the 90th minute to give unbeaten Atletico Madrid a 1-0 victory at Real Sociedad, extending its winning run to seven games to remain level with Barcelona at the top of the Spanish standings.

Falcao curled a perfect right-footed shot over the defensive wall to take his league scoring tally to nine goals, two behind leader Lionel Messi of Barcelona.

“Falcao pleaded to take the free kick,” Atletico coach Diego Simeone said. “He has been practicing to improve his free kicks and today we saw the payoff. It was an exquisite strike.”

Germany

Stuttgart won 1-0 win at Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga to end the home team’s four-game unbeaten run.

Vedad Ibisevic beat goalkeeper Rene Adler in the 31st minute, allowing the visitors to win for just the second time this season.

Nuremberg ended its four-game losing streak with a 0-0 draw at home to Augsburg.

France

Marseille fell 1-0 at struggling Troyes to concede first place in the French league to Paris Saint-Germain on goal difference.

Veteran midfielder Benjamin Nivet punished some sloppy defending in the 89th minute when he swept in a loose ball to give Troyes its first win of the season to lift it off the bottom of the table.

Marseille has picked up only one point from its last three games to put PSG back in the title race, having been six points ahead of its bitter rival a few weeks ago.

Scotland

Motherwell missed a chance to climb to third place in the Scottish Premier League by losing 1-0 to Hearts.