SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2016 SPORTS

Sunderland off the bottom as Leicester crash again

the visitors began to gain a foothold. Vardy threatened three times with Sunderland 2 headers in the 20 minutes before the interval. The best of these openings saw the Leicester forward lose his marker to meet Leicester 1 Marc Albrighton’s cross to send a looping header over Pickford’s goal. Christian Fuchs, who provided a telling SUNDERLAND: Sunderland climbed off centre for Vardy to send a glancing header the bottom of the as narrowly wide, ended the first period by Leicester City’s disastrous title defence suf- seeing his cross from the left bounce off fered another blow with a 2-1 defeat at the Sunderland bar. the yesterday. Islam Slimani saw his snap shot early in Robert Huth’s own goal and a Jermain the second half strike the hand of Defoe effort put Sunderland in control in Djilobodji in the area, but his penalty the second half and Shinji Okazaki’s strike appeals proved fruitless as, boosted by the came too late to prevent a fifth defeat in introduction of experienced midfield pair nine league games for Leicester. Kirchhoff and Seb Larsson from the bench, Claudio Ranieri’s side lie just two points Sunderland quickly gained the upper above the bottom three, while Sunderland hand. continued their steady improvement They translated that superiority into under by recording a third two priceless goals, the second of which victory in four games to move into 18th by Defoe, the 151st of his career, saw the place. former Tottenham forward move above Jamie Vardy’s Premier League goal former England international Michael drought now stretches to three months on Owen into seventh on the all-time Premier another day to forget for Leicester, who League goalscorer’s list. — AFP fell behind in the 64th minute thanks to the kind of misfortune to which they were largely immune en route to lifting the title in May. From Duncan Watmore’s corner, Matches on TV MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan, centre and Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta battle for the ball during the English Premier League substitute Jan Kirchhoff’s off target header soccer match between Manchester City and Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, yesterday. — AP was going nowhere until it struck Huth to (Local Timings) find the bottom corner of Ron-Robert ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE Zieler’s net. After ’s penalty claims were turned down when Bournemouth v 16:30 beIN SPORTS 2 HD Chelsea beat Man City the Sunderland defender appeared to be tripped inside the area by Danny Simpson, Everton v Manchester 19:00 in what was a chastening afternoon for beIN SPORTS 2 HD the former Black Cats full-back, Defoe SPANISH LEAGUE PRIMERA DIV doubled the Wearsiders’ advantage with for 8th straight win Real Betis v Vigo 14:00 13 minutes remaining. beIN SPORTS 3 HD Watmore was again the line of supply, Bilbao v Eibar 18:15 Since losing 3-0 to Arsenal on Sept. 24, waves of attacks at the end of the first half. when his shot from a Victor Anichebe beIN SPORTS 3 HD Chelsea has picked up maximum points, includ- Cahill lunged at Jesus Navas’ right-wing cross cross was blocked, as the ball fell invitingly Deportivo v Las Palmas 20:30 Man City 1 ing come-from-behind wins over title rivals with his wrong leg and the ball reared up and for Defoe to fire home into the corner beIN SPORTS 3 HD Tottenham and City in the space of a week. flew into the top corner. The England defender from close range for his eighth league Sporting Gijon v Osasuna 20:30 Chelsea opened up a four-point cushion over lay with his face in the turf in despair. goal of the season. beIN SPORTS 1 HD City after 14 games. City took the lead through Cahill rectified his mistake early in the second Leicester showed the kind of character Valencia v Malaga 22:45 Chelsea 3 Gary Cahill’s own goal on the stroke of halftime half when he cleared off the line a shot from for which they became synonymous last beIN SPORTS 3 HD season as they halved the deficit two min- and will bemoan the failure of the referee to Aguero, who seized on Marcos Alonso’s weak utes later, Japan striker Okazaki stealing in ITALIAN CALCIO LEAGUE SERIE A miss Luiz’s apparent shove on Aguero in the back-pass and rounded goalkeeper Thibaut 30th when the Chelsea defender was last man. Courtois. With City pushing forward, De Bruyne at the near post ahead of Milan v Crotone 14:30 MANCHESTER: Chelsea took down another That perhaps explained the late challenge on crashed a finish off the top of the crossbar from to poke home a cross from Demarai Gray. beIN SPORTS 4 HD major rival en route to an eighth straight win in Luiz by a frustrated Aguero, who has now been inside the six-yard box after meeting Navas’ Lazio v Roma 17:00 the English Premier League by rallying for a 3-1 dismissed twice this season. cross. Then City fell apart. EARLY STORM beIN SPORTS 4 HD win at Manchester City, which finished with nine The heavyweight clash ended up hinging on Fabregas picked out Costa with a superb Jordan Pickford saved brilliantly from Sampdoria v Torino 17:00 men after late red cards to Sergio Aguero and a three-minute period when City playmaker diagonal pass, and the Spain striker chested the Wes Morgan at a stoppage-time corner as beIN SPORTS 1 HD Fernandinho. Kevin De Bruyne somehow struck the bar from ball inside Nicolas Otamendi and finished low Leicester pressed in vain for an equaliser. Sassuolo v Empoli 17:00 Diego Costa was the architect of the turn- close range before Costa equalized against the past Claudio Bravo. They could have few complaints at the beIN SPORTS 7 HD around, equalizing in the 60th minute with a run of play. Costa played an integral role in the winner, outcome after enduring an early storm Pescara v Cagliari 17:00 league-high 11th goal of the season before set- It was pure opportunism from Antonio beating Otamendi - who dived into the tackle where they could have found themselves beIN SPORTS 8 HD ting free substitute Willian for the second goal in Conte’s visitors, who were under pressure for rashly - in the center of the field and setting free two goals down. Fiorentina v Palermo 22:45 the 70th at Etihad Stadium. Eden Hazard much of the game but always looked dangerous Willian, who ran clear and drove a shot across forward Anichebe thrived beIN SPORTS 4 HD clinched victory in the 90th. down Sunderland’s left and saw a goal- In a chaotic ending, City had two players sent on the break with the pace of Hazard and the Bravo into the corner. bound effort blocked by Morgan inside GERMAN 1ST DIV off in injury time - Aguero for a lunge on David ruggedness of Costa. They scored from all three The third goal came from another counterat- of their shots on target. tack as City piled forward, this time Hazard out- the six-yard box. Darmstadt v Hamburger 17:30 Luiz and Fernandinho moments later for push- There’s no doubt that City’s opening goal was pacing Aleksandar Kolarov and smashing a finish Anichebe had justifiable penalty beIN SPORTS 5 HD ing Cesc Fabregas by the neck over the advertis- a lucky break, but it was fully deserved after past Bravo. —AP appeals turned down when he appeared Augsburg v Eintracht 19:30 ing hoardings in the ensuing melee. to be held back by the busy Leicester skip- beIN SPORTS 5 HD per as his close-range shot was blocked by Huth after the Foxes failed to deal with FRENCH LEAGUE 1ST DIV ’s centre into the area. Stade Rennes v Etienne 17:00 Striker Benteke Anichebe created another chance soon beIN SPORTS 6 HD after, using his pace and power to beat Marseille v Nancy Lorraine 19:00 Simpson and centre for Defoe, who beIN SPORTS 6 HD double ends uncharacteristically scuffed his shot from Nice v Toulouse 22:45 10 yards. Leicester eventually got to grips beIN SPORTS 6 HD with Ndong in Sunderland’s midfield as Palace misery

Kane’s double gets Crystal Palace 3 Spurs back on track Southampton 0 Fabianski, while Son missed the target from a Kane lay-off. Tottenham 5 LONDON: A double from Belgian international INSTRUMENTAL striker Christian Benteke inspired Crystal Palace to a Eriksen’s free-kick was too close to 3-0 win over Southampton and saved manager Fabianski as Tottenham’s chances contin- DORTMUND: Moenchengladbach’s Belgian midfielder Thorgan Hazard, Dortmund’s Alan Pardew’s job in ending a six match Premier Swansea 0 ued and Swansea struggled to get out of Spanish defender Marc Bartra and Dortmund’s defender Marcel Schmelzer vie for League losing streak yesterday. their own half. Eventually Spurs took the the ball during the German first division Bundesliga football match between Benteke’s brace-taking his tally to seven this sea- lead on 39 minutes as Alli, going away Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Moenchengladbach at the Signal-Iduna-Park in son-and a goal from James Tompkins gave the LONDON: Tottenham claimed only their from goal, was controversially adjudged Dortmund, western Germany, yesterday. —AFP hosts a deserved victory against a poor second win in 11 matches as to have been tripped by Kyle Naughton Southampton side, who ended the week with the celebrated signing a new long-term con- just inside the area. Inevitably, it was club embroiled in the sex abuse scandal dating tract with two goals in a 5-0 rout of Kane who took the spot-kick expertly fir- Dortmund rout Gladbach back to the 1970s. struggling Swansea yesterday. Kane ing the ball to the bottom left-hand cor- It had been reported in some of the British committed his future for the next five ner. Moments later the instrumental Alli in Real Madrid warm-up media that if Palace had lost Pardew-who only and a half years this week and the went close to a second with Fabianski months ago was minutes away from delivering England striker scored a 39th-minute bravely denying him with his legs. Palace the FA Cup before Manchester United came penalty to open the scoring before Son BERLIN: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang headed home. Reus had a goal ruled out Tottenham did get their second on back to rip it from their hands-would have been Heung-Min scored a spectacular second the stroke of half-time with a spectacular scored twice and Marco Reus provided for offside just after the break, but there three assists as Borussia Dortmund pre- was no containing the winger. shown the door. just before the break. Kane then added acrobatic effort from Son after Eriksen’s Palace had the best chance of the opening half his second of the game four minutes pared for their Champions League clash at With deft footwork, Reus poached the pass had fallen perfectly to him. Real Madrid by routing Borussia ball off Gladbach defender Nico Elvedi to hour Wilfried Zaha getting to the by-line and his after the break and also Swansea attempted to turn things Moenchengladbach 4-1 in the Bundesliga allow Dembele to slot home Dortmund’s cross was met by Benteke but his header whistled got on the scoresheet twice late on as around again for the second week run- yesterday. third on 64 minutes. The pair struck again past Fraser Forster’s post. Mauricio Pochettino’s side produced the ning as Fernando Llorente, the hero of Dortmund are fifth in Germany’s top four minutes later when Dembele’s pass Forster, though, was to have a moment one perfect response to consecutive defeats the Palace victory, came on at the break. flight, six points behind leaders Bayern and Reus’ backheel saw Aubameyang score dreads especially when it is in front of the watching by Monaco and Chelsea. But it made little difference this time Munich, who won 3-1 at Mainz on Friday, his second and Dortmund’s fourth. Having England manager Gareth Southgate-who played On the back of a memorable 5-4 victo- around as Kane made it 3-0 within four and RB Leipzig, who host Schalke on slammed his team after their 2-1 defeat at for Palace in the 1990’s-in gifting the hosts their ry over Crystal Palace, Swansea boss Bob minutes of the restart with a cool finish Saturday evening, ahead of their trip to last Saturday, Dortmund first goal. Bradley opted to make two changes, from 15 yards after Son had done the Spain. With both sides already into the last coach was full of praise. “It Forster aimed to clear the ball with his left foot with Mike van der Hoorn and Jefferson hard work on the break. 16, the victor at Real’s Bernabeu on was a complete performance from us,” he but missed it, it came off his right foot and Benteke Montero starting. It was Kane’s sixth goal in five matches Wednesday will be confirmed as Group F enthused. “We had to be very industrious was on hand to tap it home for his sixth goal of the The game took a while to get going since his return from an ankle injury last winners. Dortmund warmed-up with an up front and brave due to the lack of room season and put them ahead in the 33rd minute. with Tottenham defender Kyle Walker month and chances continued to arrive emphatic win over Moenchengladbach at they allowed us. “We kept the e ergy and Palace doubled their lead three minutes later as floored by an early aerial challenge by for Tottenham, with another free-kick Signal Iduna Park. the aggressiveness in our game over the 90 the previously measly Saints defence-who prior to Neil Taylor. Dele Alli then saw a deflected from Eriksen just missing the post. The fleet-footed Reus was outstanding minutes, that was the key.” the game had the third best defensive record in the as Dortmund fought back after Gladbach Hertha Berlin held onto third with a 3-2 effort from Kane’s pass gathered by Kane thought he had added a third league-were again caught napping Tomkins nip- Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. when he slotted past Fabianski but the took the lead with six minutes gone when comeback victory at 10-man Wolfsburg as Brazilian forward Raffael slotted home from Salomon Kalou converted the winning ping to to prod home from a couple of yards out. Kane appeared full of confidence after linesman’s flag reprieved Swansea. Southampton offered little in attack-Sofiane settling his future and his fine header But Tottenham did score a fourth on the edge of the area. penalty in the 91st minute. With his side However, Dortmund were level 59 sec- near the relegation zone, Wolfsburg coach Boufal’s mis-timed volley early in the second-half from Walker’s cross was well pushed over 70 minutes as Eriksen headed home from endemic of their lack of bite in attack-and manager by Fabianski as the hosts started to turn onds later. Ousmane Dembele dribbled Valerien Ismael dropped Germany interna- close range from Son’s cross and there through the visitors’ defence and his pass tional Julian Draxler from his starting line- Claude Puel moved to change things just before the screw. was still time for Wanyama to miss a sit- found Reus, who laid the ball off to up and his side responded with two goals the hour mark sending on teenager Josh Sims. Walker was next to go close as his run ter from four yards out following Aubameyang to drill past Gladbach goal- in the opening 20 minutes. Ex-Real Madrid Sims added much needed energy to from the right resulted in a shot the Eriksen’s delivery. keeper Yann Sommer with his first touch. striker Borja Mayoral gave Wolfsburg a Southampton’s attack and went close alomost Swansea keeper again had to tip over for A fifth then followed in stoppage time Dortmund grabbed a second on 15 min- 12th-minute lead before Marvin immediately, Boufal teeing him up and the 19-year- a corner. Victor Wanyama drilled a shot as Eriksen scored his second from substi- utes when Dembele’s corner was flicked on Plattenhardt put Hertha level by expertly old unleashed a fine left-footed effort which went from the edge of the area straight at tute Moussa Sissoko’s pass. — AFP by Marc Bartra to Lukasz Piszczek, who drilling his free-kick over the wall.—AFP close. —AFP