Established 1961 15 Sports Monday, March 12, 2018 Arsene Wenger gets boost as Arsenal sink Watford Ends a run of three successive Premier League defeats LONDON: Arsene Wenger received a welcome boost started for Arsenal and the Gabon striker should have as Arsenal eased a little of the pressure on their belea- opened the scoring when he raced onto Mesut Ozil’s guered boss with a 3-0 win over Watford yesterday. pass and shot straight at Watford goalkeeper Orestis After a wretched run left Wenger fighting to save his Karnezis. job, a 2-0 win at AC Milan in the Europa League on For the second successive home game, a significant Thursday offered the Frenchman temporary respite amount of seats were empty as fans stayed away in from the torrent of abuse he has endured this season. protest at Wenger’s woes. The subdued atmosphere Maintaining the lent an ‘end of an era’ momentum from that feel to the match, but it last-16 victory in the San didn’t bother Arsenal, Siro, Wenger’s side end- who had a point to prove ed a run of three succes- to Watford captain sive Premier League Mustafi limped Deeney. defeats with a solid dis- Deeney had infuriated play at the Emirates off in the Arsenal by accusing Stadium. Shkodran them of a lack of Mustafi’s early opener closing stages “cojones” after Watford and a cool finish from beat Wenger’s men in Pierre-Emerick October. Fuelled by that Aubameyang put them in jibe, Arsenal took the control. lead in the eighth minute. In a moment of sweet When Ozil swung a deep vindication, Watford captain Troy Deeney, who had free-kick towards the far post, Mustafi punished slack questioned Arsenal’s spirit earlier this season, had a marking by Jose Holebas and Adrian Mariappa as the second-half penalty saved by Petr Cech. Henrikh German defender powered a close-range header past Mkhitaryan’s strike wrapped up the points, but there Karnezis. was concern for Wenger as Mustafi limped off in the closing stages. RARE SMILE Arsenal, who had lost eight of their previous 14 Watford weren’t fazed and Abdoulaye Doucoure’s LONDON: Arsenal’s Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scores Arsenal’s second goal past the matches in all competitions, remain in sixth place and low strike deflected off Mustafi to force a good save outstretched arms of Watford’s Greek goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis during the English Premier League trail fourth-placed Tottenham by 10 points ahead of from Cech. Cech alertly kept out Richarlison’s dipping football match between Arsenal and Watford at the Emirates Stadium in London yesterday. — AFP their rivals’ trip to Bournemouth later. free-kick, but Roberto Pereyra should have done better Winning the Europa League guarantees qualification than blaze the rebound over. for next season’s Champions League and, with Arsenal’s Ozil was equally profligate when he weaved through before it crossed the line. With the momentum back in rare smile a few minutes later. Ainsley Maitland-Niles hopes of achieving that goal via a top-four finish look- on goal, only to clip his shot too close to Karnezis. their favour, Aubameyang doubled Arsenal’s lead in the conceded a penalty with a foul on Pereyra, but when ing bleak, it was no surprise Wenger prioritised the There was less assurance about Arsenal towards the 59th minute. Deeney stepped up to take the spot-kick, Cech made a continental competition. end of the half and Cech had to plunge to his left to Mkhitaryan was the catalyst, slipping a pass to fine save that preserved his 200th clean sheet in the With the second leg against Milan looming on save Richarlison’s header. Aubameyang, who beat the Watford offside trap and Premier League. Thursday, Wenger rested Aaron Ramsey and Laurent But Watford couldn’t take advantage and Granit rounded Karnezis before slotting in his third goal since Mkhitaryan bagged his second goal in successive Koscielny and left Jack Wilshere on the bench. Xhaka’s 20-yard blast after the interval almost his club-record move from Borussia Dortmund in matches with a low strike that crept under Karnezis in Aubameyang was one of the established stars who deceived Karnezis before he grabbed the ball just January. There was more cause for Wenger to wear a the 77th minute. —AFP 10-man Celtic Dybala double bounce back to sends Juventus beat Rangers top of Serie A GLASGOW: Celtic bounced back from twice going behind TURIN: Paulo Dybala scored in each half to give Juventus and down to 10 men to beat Rangers 3-2 at Ibrox yester- a 2-0 home win over Udinese and put them top of Serie A day and take a huge step towards a seventh consecutive yesterday. Dybala curled home a superb free kick from the Scottish Premiership title. Brendan Rodgers’s men now edge of the area in the 20th minute to put Juventus ahead, lead their Glasgow rivals by nine points and have a game and he was pulled down for a penalty later in the first half in hand at the top of the table. only for fellow Argentinian Gonzalo Higuain to miss the Rangers’ wait for a first league win over Celtic since spot kick. Dybala added his second four minutes after 2012 continues, but they looked well set to stretch their halftime, Higuain expertly holding up the ball before play- recent fine form when they went in front through Josh ing it into the path of the 24-year-old, who slotted it home Windass and Daniel Candeias in the first-half. right-footed. The win put Juventus on 71 points, two Both those strikes were quickly cancelled out by Tom ahead of Napoli with both sides having played 27 games. Rogic and Moussa Dembele and despite Jozo Simunovic’s Napoli, though, will regain the lead if they can beat Inter red card just before the hour mark, Celtic still found the Milan in Sunday’s late kickoff at the San Siro. winner thanks to substitute Odsonne Edouard. Celtic were The sudden death last week of Fiorentina captain forced to hand a debut to goalkeeper Scott Bain due to a Davide Astori cast a pall over Sunday’s proceedings in late injury picked up by Dorus de Vries, and he too was to Serie A. Many of last weekend’s matches were postponed play a big part in helping the champions seal a record following his passing and this week’s games began with fourth straight win at Ibrox.However, Bain’s first involve- both silence and applause as the 31-year-old Italian inter- ment was to pick the ball out of his net after a terrible national was remembered. error by Dedryck Boyata just three minutes in. In the day’s early kickoff, Vitor Hugo scored the only The Belgian defender gifted possession to Windass goal as Fiorentina beat Benevento 1-0 at the Artemio inside the Celtic half and the Rangers winger strode for- BOURNEMOUTH: Bournemouth’s English midfielder Junior Stanislas (R) hits the bar with this early Franchi stadium in a game filled with emotional tributes to ward before blasting home his 17th goal of the season into attempt during the English Premier League football match between Bournemouth and Tottenham Astori, who was buried on Thursday. Lazio’s Ciro Immobile scored both goals, including a the roof of the net. Rangers’ early joy lasted just eight min- Hotspur at the Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth, southern England yesterday. — AFP utes as Rogic replied in spectacular fashion but curling superb backheel deep into stoppage time, to give his side into the top corner from 25 yards.However, they quickly a share of the spoils as they drew 2-2 away to Cagliari. The restablished their lead thanks to more poor Celtic defend- brace puts Serie A top scorer Immobile on 24 goals from ing. Declan John’s low cross evaded a host of bodies in the back victory with the visitors slightly flattered by two 24 games this season, six ahead of Inter’s Mauro Icardi middle and fell for Candeias to fire home at the far post. Spurs rally to late goals. who has 18 in 22. Having started the day second from bot- Again Celtic responded brightly and Wes Fotheringham A high-octane Bournemouth start led to Junior tom, Crotone hammered Sampdoria 4-1 at home to climb was forced into brilliant saves to deny Dembele and Stanislas hitting the bar and then scoring after six min- out of the relegation zone, with Marcello Trotta scoring Callum McGregor.The visitors pressure paid off in first- beat Bournemouth utes but Alli, who had not found the net in 15 games, twice and missing a penalty in an eventful outing for the half stoppage time when Dembele rounded off a frantic ended his worst barren spell by equalising from a posi- home side. Newcomers SPAL slipped into the bottom three following a 1-1 draw with fellow strugglers Sassuolo first period by lobbing Fotheringham for his sixth goal in BOURNEMOUTH: Tottenham Hotspur overcame a tion usually occupied by Kane. eight games against Rangers. After a brief lull in the action while Dutch midfielder Marten de Roon netted the winner worrying injury to talismanic striker Harry Kane to beat Alli also played a major part in Spurs’ second goal, after the break, Rangers seemed to have been handed the seven minutes from time to give Atalanta a 1-0 victory at upper hand once more when Simunovic was controversial- mid-table Bournemouth 4-1 with a Son Heung-min crossing for Son to score with a scuffed shot before the Bologna.