Stal seals unlikely De Villiers Abu Dhabi win after shatters record Kaymer capitulates and West Indies 16 in17 2nd ODI MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 2015 Uzbekistan oust ‘tragic’ Saudis to reach quarters Page 19 MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero, third left, looks up as he fails to connect to a cross during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England, yesterday. — AP Arsenal hit Man City’s title bid Cazorla converted a penalty in the 24th well is very important for a group of players.” tain Kompany was made to look rusty. appeared to work and Aguero had his first minute and then sent in a pin-point free With the loss, City fell five points behind Kompany gave away the penalty when serious shot with an effort that deflected Man City 0 kick that Giroud headed in for the second in leader Chelsea. Arsenal climbed above Nacho Monreal attempted to play a one-two wide. Jesus Navas was the first to test the 66th as Arsenal ended second-place Tottenham into fifth place, one point behind with Giroud and was impeded by the City Ospina, the deputy keeper again preferred City’s 12-game unbeaten run in all competi- Manchester United. In Sunday’s other game, captain as he continued his run into the box. to Wojciech Szczesny, with a powerful effort tions. West Ham also gave its European ambitions Cazorla took full advantage from the spot as that was parried away. Arsenal 2 City dominated possession but Arsenal a boost as a superb second-half display saw he sent a hard shot beyond the reach of Joe Arsenal doubled its lead after Alexis for once showed the kind of defensive forti- the Hammers beat struggling Hull 3 -0. Hart. Wenger started David Ospina in goal, Sanchez was fouled by Jovetic. Cazorla tude that so often has been missing in big City, despite the return of striker Sergio and the Colombian was hardly tested in the capped his standout performance by clip- away games in recent seasons. Arsenal lost Aguero and captain Vincent Kompany, creat- first half as City were unable to muster a ping a free kick into the area and Giroud MANCHESTER: Arsenal finally ended its 6-3 at City last season, to go with a 6-0 ed little against an Arsenal team that dangerous response despite controlling reacted quickest, losing his marker Fernando streak of poor away performances against drubbing at Chelsea and 5-1 defeat at seemed content with sitting back to defend plenty of the ball. City boss Manuel to head home in simple fashion. top teams as Santi Cazorla and Olivier Liverpool. - and did it unusually well. Pellegrini reverted to his default 4-4-2 set-up City tried to hit back and Monreal cleared Giroud scored in each half yesterday for a 2- “It reinforces the belief of the team and Aguero played up front alone in the first after the break as Stevan Jovetic replaced unconvincingly over his own bar but the 0 victory at Manchester City that dented the gives us confidence,” Arsenal manager half and had a quiet game, as Arsenal looked James Milner and moved alongside Aguero. hosts did not consistently trouble their visi- hosts’ title hopes. Arsene Wenger said. “To feel that we can do the more incisive at times and fit-again cap- The change of approach initially tors. — AP Ronaldo double takes Madrid four points clear MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo round- them on the road to victory. (Benzema) opened the game up for period with good saves from ed off a week where he was named Gareth Bale then doubled the vis- us. It was extraordinary.” Benzema and James Rodriguez. world player of the year for the third itors’ lead before Ronaldo rounded After a sluggish start the However, his resistence was final- time scoring a double as Real Madrid off the scoring with a trademark European champions finally started ly broken just before the hour mark opened up a four-point lead at the header from James Rodriguez’s to get going after 20 minutes as with a brilliant team goal as Isco and top of La Liga with a 3-0 win away to cross. Barcelona can cut Madrid’s Marcelo drove a fierce effort just Rodriguez combined to free Getafe yesterday. lead back to a solitary point when over on his weaker right foot before Benzema and the Frenchman pro- LONDON: West Ham United’s English striker Andy Carroll (2nd L) shoots to score Atletico Madrid, who dumped they travel to Deportivo la Coruna Benzema was denied by Jordi duced an exquisite piece of skill on the opening goal past Hull City’s Scottish goalkeeper Allan McGregor (R) during city rivals Real out the Copa del Rey later yesterday. “It is true at the start Codina. the byline to cut the ball back for the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Hull in midweek, moved back up to third we didn’t play with a lot of intensity,” Isco then tested the Getafe ‘keep- Ronaldo to slam home. City at the Boleyn Ground, Upton Park, in east London, yesterday. — AFP as goals from Mario Mandzukic and said Real boss Carlo Ancelotti. er with a piledriver from the edge of Just four minutes later it was 2-0 Raul Garcia handed them a 2-0 win “At the start we played a bit slow, the box which Codina did well to as this time Rodriguez was the over managerless Granada. but I liked the performance because turn over and Toni Kroos came even provider with a fine low cross that Real had to wait over an hour to the team played with intelligence closer a minute before the break Bale prodded past Codina with the Carroll on target as make the breakthrough at the and much better in the second-half when he rattled the crossbar from outside of his left foot. Alfonso Perez Coliseum before than the first. long range. And another sumptuous cross West Ham move up Ronaldo fired home from Karim “I think the whole team played Codina continued to frustrate from Rodriguez 11 minutes from Benzema’s wonderful assist to set well, but the assist by Karim Madrid at the start of the second time allowed Ronaldo to plant a firm above bottom-of-the-table Leicester City. header past the helpless Codina to “Today we deserved it,” Carroll told Sky register his 36th goal of the season. West Ham 3 Sports. “Obviously the first half wasn’t a Atletico also seemed to suffer a great performance from us but we came physical hangover from Thursday’s out in the second half and got the early thrilling 2-2 draw between last sea- goal and created a lot more chances.” son’s Champions League finalists After four Premier League games with- which saw Los Rojiblancos progress Hull City 0 out a win for West Ham, the visit of goal- to the quarter-finals of the Cup 4-2 shy Hull provided an ideal opportunity to on aggregate, as they laboured to reignite their season. victory against a Granada side that LONDON: European hopefuls West Ham It was the visitors, however, who made hasn’t won in La Liga since the better start. With several first-choice September. That run combined with United moved closer to the Champions League places yesterday with a 3-0 victory forwards injured, diminutive Nigeria inter- a 6-1 aggregate thrashing by Sevilla national Sone Aluko was tasked with lead- had led the club to sack coach over relegation-threatened Hull City at Upton Park. ing Hull’s attack and his pace and skill Joaquin Caparros on Friday and should have yielded an early goal. despite a spirited display they The result sent the Hammers up to sev- enth with 36 points from 22 games, just He ghosted through the West Ham remain firmly rooted in the relega- defence twice in the opening five minutes tion zone. four behind fourth-placed Manchester United. After the visitors had battled man- before a clever cut-back was scuffed wide The opening goal arrived 11 min- by Ahmed Elmohamady in the sixth. utes before half-time when Diego fully in the opening period, in-form Andy Carroll opened the scoring for West Ham West Ham slowly grew into the game Godin was hauled down by Abdoul and went close through Aaron Cresswell Sissoko as he tried to reach Fernando with a simple finish in the 49th minute. Substitute Morgan Amalfitano and the and Enner Valencia before James Tomkins Torres’s cross and Mandzukic headed over from close range. smashed home the resultant penalty impressive Stuart Downing then applied neat finishes within three minutes of each Hull looked lively at the other end and for his 16th goal of the season. missed a great chance when Aluko again Atletico enjoyed more control of other as West Ham reignited their top-four challenge with a first league victory since drove at the Hammers defence before opt- the game after the break and finally ing to pass rather than shoot with the goal sealed the points three minutes from Dec. 20. West Ham have more points at this beckoning. Hull’s already injury-ravaged MADRID: Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, second right, scores past Getafe’s Emiliano Velazquez during a time when substitute Garcia bun- stage of a Premier League campaign than squad received another blow when Spanish La Liga soccer match between Getafe and Real Madrid at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez stadium in dled home Arda Turan’s cross at the defender James Chester was helped off back post.