SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2015 SPORTS

English results/standings LONDON: Collated English Premier League results yesterday: Arsenal 2 (Giroud 36, Koscielny 38) Everton 1 (Barkley 44); Aston Villa 1 (J. Ayew 62) Swansea 2 (Sigurdsson 68, A. Ayew 87);Leicester 1 (Vardy 59) Crystal Palace 0; Norwich 0 West Brom 1 (Rondon 46); Stoke 0 Watford 2 (Deeney 43, Abdi 69); West Ham 2 (Zarate 17, Carroll 79) Chelsea 1 (Cahill 56)

Playing today Bournemouth v Tottenham (1405 GMT), v Southampton (1615 GMT), United v Manchester City (1405 GMT), Sunderland v Newcastle (1200 GMT) Arsenal 10 7 1 2 18 8 22 Swansea 10 3 4 3 12 12 13 Man City 9 7 0 2 24 8 21 Liverpool 9 3 4 2 8 10 13 West Ham 10 6 2 2 22 13 20 Watford 10 3 4 3 8 10 13 Man Utd 9 6 1 2 15 8 19 Stoke 10 3 3 4 9 12 12 Leicester 10 5 4 1 20 17 19 Chelsea 10 3 2 5 15 19 11 Crystal Palace 10 5 0 5 12 11 15 Norwich 10 2 3 5 14 21 9 Tottenham 9 3 5 1 11 7 14 Bournemouth 9 2 2 5 11 17 8 West Brom 10 4 2 4 8 11 14 Newcastle 9 1 3 5 12 19 6 Southampton 9 3 4 2 15 12 13 Aston Villa 10 1 1 8 9 17 4 Everton 10 3 4 3 13 13 13 Sunderland 9 0 3 6 8 19 3 Vardy maintains hot streak to sink Palace

the space of two minutes. Marc Albrighton’s scuffed shot bounced Leicester 1 off a post with Palace goalkeeper Wayne NORWICH: West Bromwich Albion’s Salomon Rondon (left) heads the ball to score, during the English League soccer match Hennessey wrong-footed before Riyad against Norwich City. —AP Mahrez dragged the rebound wide. Vardy then stole possession from Brede C Palace 0 Hangeland by the corner flag and hooked over a cross that was cleared from under West Brom stroll past Norwich the bar by Palace defender . Norwich remaining 16th. An entertaining first restart before making up for that wasted oppor- LEICESTER: Leicester striker Palace had already won three away period ended goalless but not for the lack of tunity. maintained his red-hot form as he scored in games in the Premier League this term, Norwich 0 opportunities at both ends. West Brom midfield- Saido Berahino was at the root of the game- a seventh successive Premier League game including a shock success at champions er Chris Brunt had Canaries goalkeeper John winning move, finding James McClean who to clinch a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace yes- Chelsea. Ruddy at full stretch to block his early long range crossed the ball for Rondon to head home past terday. Yet Pardew’s team were well below their effort. Ruddy. Vardy bagged his 10th league goal of best and it took 37 minutes before Yohan West Brom 1 Shortly after Ruddy’s opposite number Boaz With a quarter of an hour remaining Rondon, the season in the second half at the King Cabaye brought Leicester goalkeeper Myhill did well to deny with a who moved to the Premier League in August in a Power Stadium to give Leicester their fifth Kasper Schmeichel into action. fine low save as the Baggies’ defence came £12 million ($19 million) signing, made way for top-flight win of the campaign and cement Although Leicester lost some momen- under pressure, with proving a hand- Rickie Lambert, his work done. their surprising climb to fifth place. tum early in the second half, Palace still NORWICH: West Brom moved up to eighth in ful. Despite Norwich, routed 6-2 by Newcastle The 28-year-old is the Premier League’s couldn’t stop Vardy extending his sublime the Premier League yesterday after club record- The first half ended in a flurry of activity with last weekend, facing a third straight Premier top scorer and his latest heroics continued streak in the 59th minute. signing Salomon Rondon’s powerful header lift- West Brom left to rue missed headers from Craig League defeat it was the Baggies who looked a meteoric rise for the England internation- Hangeland gifted possession to Mahrez ed the Baggies to a deserved 1-0 win at Norwich. Dawson and Venezuelan striker Rondon. the more likely to score again. West Brom mean- al who was playing non-league football and he picked out Vardy, who dinked the ’s side arrived at Carrow Road in But the former Zenit St Petersburg attacker while were celebrating their sixth cleansheet in with Fleetwood only three years ago. Now ball over Hennessey and slotted into the 13th but jumped five places on 14 points with only had to wait a handful of seconds after the 10 games.—AFP he is part of a select group of eight players, empty net. including , Thierry Henry, Ian That was the signal for Palace to spring Wright and Ruud van Nistelrooy, to have into life at last and Schmeichel was at full netted in seven successive Premier League stretch to keep out a Patrick Bamford head- games. er before ’s header was nodded Buoyed by yet another dramatic come- off the line by Christian Fuchs. Palace’s final Watford blank Stoke back, a Vardy-inspired 2-2 draw at fling came when they appealed for a penal- Southampton last weekend, Leicester ty after tumbled under a chal- made a vibrant start against Palace and lenge from Fuchs, but referee Mike Dean almost took the lead on three occasions in booked the winger for diving.—AFP Stoke 0

Watford 2

STOKE-ON-TRENT: scored his first Premier League goal as Watford ended a run of three league games without victory by winning 2-0 at in-form Stoke City yesterday. In manager ’s 100th game at the helm, Stoke were seeking to record a fourth con- secutive league win for the first time since December 2011 in what was the two teams’ first top-flight encounter since April 1985. But it was Quique Sanchez Flores’s side who prevailed at the Britannia Stadium as goals from Deeney and gave Watford their first ever away win in the Premier League in the month of October. Further spoiling Hughes’s day, he saw Watford move above Stoke, who fell three places to 14th in the table. Deeney went into the game having had more attempts at goal without scoring than any other player in the division and he was quick to make LONDON: Stoke City’s Xherdan Shaqiri (left) and Watford’s Nathan Ake vie for the ball, during a nuisance of himself, forcing into the English Premier League soccer match. —AP a last-ditch block. Stoke were forced into an ear- ly change when Geoff Cameron went off in the to life when Odion Ighalo and Deeney hit the the pitch for treatment he was able to continue. 10th minute with an apparent thigh injury, bar in quick succession, and in the 42nd minute The visitors continued to attack, with Ighalo which saw Marc Wilson came on, but they made they went ahead. and Ikechi Anya denied penalties, before Ighalo most of the early running. Ighalo’s flick was collected by Deeney on the robbed Wilson and teed up Abdi to fire home at Charlie Adam twice went close from range, edge of the box and the Watford skipper took a the near post in the 69th minute and double while Xherdan Shaqiri picked out Marko touch before steering a low shot into the bot- Watford’s advantage. Arnautovic, only for his cross to strike the tom-right corner. Only a save by Stoke goalkeeper Austrian forward on the shoulder and fly over Ighalo, Watford’s leading scorer with five prevented Juan Carlos Paredes making it 3-0, the crossbar. goals, took an accidental boot to the head from while Jon Walters, back after a groin injury, shot But shortly before half-time, Watford sprang Adam early in the second half, but after leaving wide at the other end.—AFP Sherwood feels heat after Villa lose again LONDON: Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy (left in the air) collides with Crystal Palace goalkeeper during the English Premier League match. —AP Aston Villa 1 Germany seeks right of reply over ‘cash-for-votes’ row Swansea 2 BERLIN: The German Football Association print or online. All four demands submitted (DFB) has reportedly requested a right of by the DFB are directed towards parts of the reply in magazine Spiegel to refute the cash- Spiegel article where they insist there is no for-votes allegations surrounding the award- evidence or details to back up the allegations : Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood acknowl- ing of the 2006 World Cup to Germany. made and they are set be included in next edged that his position was potentially at threat after his side’s According to the website MEEDIA, the DFB’s Saturday’s edition. On Thursday, Niersbach slump continued with a 2-1 home defeat by Swansea City yes- lawyer Christian Schertz has sent four claimed the 6.7 million-euro payment was terday. Sherwood saw his side take a 62nd-minute lead demands for a right of reply to the Hamburg- made to FIFA as an upfront payment trans- through at Villa Park, but goals from Gylfi based publication. The DFB was unavailable ferred in order to secure a 170 million euro Sigurdsson and Andre Ayew, Jordan’s elder brother, saw for comment yesterday. The DFB is in crisis subsidy from world football’s governing body. Swansea prevail. It was Villa’s sixth consecutive league defeat, over claims in a recent Spiegel report that the However, FIFA quickly refuted Niersbach’s ver- their eighth in 10 games to date this season, and left last sea- 2006 World Cup bidding committee accepted sion in a strongly-worded statement and son’s beaten FA Cup finalists second from bottom in the a 10.3 million Swiss francs (6.7 million euros at called on the DFB to cooperate with its inves- Premier League table, four points from safety. “Am I going to the time) loan from ex-Adidas chief Robert tigation. be in the job next week? I’m not the person to ask. I feel like Louis-Dreyfus. Spiegel alleges that the loan Ex-DFB president Theo Zwanziger has told the club is in a hole,” Sherwood told the BBC. was used to buy the votes of four Asian mem- Spiegel he was certain that there was a slush “I am disappointed with the result. We didn’t deserve to bers of FIFA’s 24-strong executive committee fund, contradicting Niersbach’s claims and lose the game. We can’t carry anyone because we’re getting to ensure the 2006 World Cup was awarded accusing him of lying. “It is clear that there done. At the moment we are short. If people don’t give every- to Germany. was a slush fund in the German World Cup thing, we’ll come up short. “There’s no shortage in desire, but DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach has bidding process,” he said in an interview pub- the quality is not quite there. We’re not world-beaters. Our always been categoric that there had been lished yesterday. “It is also clear that the cur- league position suggests we’re not and today wasn’t our day.” nothing shady about the 2002 payment. rent DFB president (Niersbach) knew of this Sherwood, 46, was appointed last February following the dis- “There was no slush fund, there was no vote already in 2005, and not only a few weeks ago missal of . He helped Villa avoid relegation and buying,” he has said. as he claimed,” added Zwanziger, who headed led them to a first FA Cup final appearance since 2000 after a Under German media law, any individual the German Football Association from 2006 2-1 defeat of Liverpool in the semi-finals, only for the BIRMINGHAM: Aston Villa’s Leandro Bacuna (left) vies for the ball with Swansea or organisation has the right to refute any to 2012. “The way I see it, Niersbach is lying,” Midlands club to lose 4-0 to Arsenal in the final. —AFP claims made against them by an outlet in he claimed.—AFP City’s Sung Yeung Ki, during the English Premier League soccer match. —AP