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Home , Nigel Clough, Phil Dowd, Vincent Kompany

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MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2014 18 19

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LONDON: Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho (center) celebrates with teammate (left) after he scored the third goal of the game for his side during their English soccer match against City. — AP Liverpool win crunch title clash

through Raheem Sterling and Martin a fine, incisive pass and the 19-year-old ing to clear a Kompany header off the line Skrtel, and means that they will be exhibited superb composure to send and Liverpool goalkeeper EPL results/standings Liverpool 3 crowned champions if they win their Kompany and goalkeeper one blocking a volley from Fernandinho. Liverpool 3 (Sterling 6, Skrtel 26, Coutinho 78) Manchester City remaining four games. way and then the other before shooting City manager intro- 2 (Silva 57, Johnson 62-og); Swansea 0 Chelsea 1 (Ba 68). City responded impressively in the sec- into an unguarded net. duced for Jesus Navas early in ond half to draw level. scored In reply, Toure ballooned a shot over the the second half and in the 57th minute he English Premier League table after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Man City 2 and then forced an own goal by Glen bar but seemed to injure himself in the created the goal that gave City a foothold in Johnson, but their destiny is no longer in process. Javi Garcia entered the fray in his the game, swapping passes with Liverpool 34 24 5 5 93 42 77 their hands. place moments later. Fernandinho and crossing for Silva to tuck Chelsea 34 23 6 5 66 24 75 It was to prove a costly encounter for the ball home. Man City 32 22 4 6 86 32 70 Everton 33 19 9 5 53 31 66 LIVERPOOL: Philippe Coutinho’s 78th- both teams, however, with City FIGHTBACK Suddenly the visitors had their tails up, Arsenal 33 19 7 7 56 40 64 minute winner gave Liverpool a crucial 3-2 Yaya Toure and Liverpool striker Daniel Liverpool have made storming starts with Silva to the fore, and after drilling in a Spurs 34 18 6 10 48 48 60 victory over Premier League title rivals Sturridge limping off, while Liverpool’s their calling card at this season-they cross that narrowly eluded Dzeko, he forced Man Utd 33 17 6 10 56 38 57 Manchester City on a day of raw emotion at Jordan Henderson was shown a straight went 4-0 up against Arsenal in only 20 min- the equaliser with a centre that was divert- Southampton 34 13 9 12 50 45 48 Anfield yesterday. red card for an injury-time lunge on Samir utes-and after Sturridge had poked wide ed into the net by Johnson. Newcastle 34 14 4 16 38 52 46 City fought back from 2-0 down to level Nasri. from a Sterling cross, they doubled their To make matters worse for Liverpool, Stoke 34 11 10 13 38 48 43 the scores, but a mistake by captain A solemnly observed minute’s silence in lead in the 26th minute. Sturridge limped off injured in the after- West Ham 33 10 7 16 37 44 37 Crystal Palace 33 11 4 18 24 39 37 Vincent Kompany let Coutinho slam home memory of the 96 Liverpool fans who died Hart brilliantly tipped a header from math of the goal, with Joe Allen coming on. Hull 33 10 6 17 34 40 36 a first-time shot that leaves Liverpool with- after a crush at Sheffield’s Hillsborough sta- Steven Gerrard over the bar after the Pellegrini sent on the fit-again Sergio Aston Villa 33 9 7 17 35 49 34 in sight of their first league title since 1990. dium in an FA Cup semi-final in April 1989 Liverpool captain was left unmarked at a Aguero and he almost laid on the winner Swansea 34 8 9 17 45 50 33 An afternoon that began with tributes to made for a fervent atmosphere at a sun- corner, but within a minute he was picking for Silva with a low cross from the left, but West Brom 33 6 15 12 40 51 33 mark the 25th anniversary of the drenched Anfield, and the home side the ball out of his net. the stretching Spaniard managed only to Norwich 34 8 8 18 26 53 32 Hillsborough disaster ended with Liverpool quickly clicked into gear. Gerrard swept the resulting corner brush the ball with his studs. Fulham 34 9 3 22 34 74 30 seven points clear of City at the top of the Kompany was declared fit to play after towards the near post and Skrtel outmus- It was to prove a telling moment. 34 7 8 19 30 64 29 32 6 7 19 29 54 25 table, albeit having played two more an injury scare in training on Saturday, but cled Kompany before glancing a header Minutes later, Kompany’s sliced clearance games. the City defence was immediately made to past Hart to claim his fifth goal in 10 games. fell straight to Coutinho and the Brazilian Notes: Top four teams qualify for next season’s Champions It was a 10th successive win for Brendan look vulnerable as Liverpool took a sixth- City finished the first half strongly slammed home a first-time shot to leave League; fifth-place team qualifies for Europa League; bottom Rodgers’s side, who scored first-half goals minute lead. Luis Suarez freed Sterling with though, with Sterling and Johnson combin- Anfield dreaming of glory again. — AFP three teams relegated to Championship. Ba keeps Chelsea Hull moor into FA Cup final after 110 years title charge going LONDON: Hull City staged a stirring second half fightback to book their first FA Cup final appearance with a thrilling League quarter final second leg at Stamford 5-3 win over Sheffield United at Wembley yesterday. Bridge. Amongst those to earn a place in Jose ’s side survived a stern test from the League Swansea 0 Mourinho’s XI was Ba, in only his third start of One underdogs in a sensational semi-final and will face the season after scoring against PSG. Swansea, Arsenal on May 17 in the first major Cup final in Hull’s 110 again without Michu, left Jonathan de Guzman year history. on the bench but went with an attacking line United led through and although Yannick Chelsea 1 up that included , Wayne Sagbo equalised Stefan Scougall restored their advantage Routledge and Pablo Hernandez. before half-time. Chelsea should have been a goal to the The Premier League team finally made their extra quali- good inside six muinytes when Mohamed ty tell after the interval and goals from Matty Fryatt, Tom SWANSEA: Demba Ba’s fourth league goal of Salah somehow shot wide after a wonderful cross from the overlapping full back Branislav Huddlestone, and David Meyler secured the Premier League season kept Chelsea in victory in Hull’s first FA Cup semi-final for 84 years despite touch with leaders Liverpool as they won 1-0 Ivanovic. Jamie Murphy’s late reply for United. away to 10-man Swansea yesterday. At the other end, Swansea’s best chance to SWANSEA: Chelsea’s French-born Senegalese striker Demba Ba watches his shot as he Having seen Liverpool kick off the day with break the deadlock came in the 14th minute scores during the English Premier League football match against Swansea City. —AFP “We are absolutely delighted. We needed one hell of a a significant 3-2 victory over Manchester City when Wilfried Bony latched on to Angel Mourinho’s appeals to the fourth official. Eto’o was close to converting a cross from turn-around but the one thing you can’t do with this team at Anfield, Chelsea knew that nothing less than Rangel’s cross and duly brought out the best in Willian, four minutes into the second half is write them off,” Bruce said. three points at the Liberty Stadium would suf- leaping Chelsea keeper Petr Cech. The game, INFLUENTIAL WILLIAN before Oscar’s ambitious strike was blocked by “There are always going to be nerves and it is how you fice. however, turned on two yellow cards for As you would expect, Chelsea dominated the Ashley Williams. handle it. We certainly found it difficult in the first half, but They fired blanks for much of the game, but Flores. Referee Phil Dowd dished out the first ball thereafter with Willian becoming increasing- Needing to gamble, Mourinho changed his we won OK in the end.” in the end garnered another valuable win for a foul on Willian and the second was bran- ly influential. However, Swansea defended with formation dramatically with Eto’o and Ba lead- United boss Nigel Clough added: “We are proud of the thanks to Ba’s clinical strike 22 minutes from dished for a clinical trip on Andre Schurrle. great strength and desire and the visitors were ing a four-man front line that, by now, includ- players’ efforts, but we are a bit disappointed because we time against a Swansea side who’d long since It took Dowd an age to make his decision restricted to one or two chances. Willian mis- ed Willian and Salah. were so close.” been a man down following Chico Flores’s ear- with Swansea clearly concerned that the offi- cued from distance and Salah, inexplicably fired Swansea were just about starved of posses- Clough’s men, the first third tier team to reach this stage ly dismissal for two yellow cards. cial had come under intense pressure from the over from a dozen yards. Mourinho swapped sion and though Bony worked tirelessly to pro- of the competition since 2001, had already defeated Chelsea made five changes from the side Chelsea players. Schurrle and for Eto’o and Oscar at half- vide an outlet, the hosts were unable to keep Premier League opposition in Aston Villa and Fulham en that defeated Paris Saint-Germain in the clos- Garry Monk was also time and Chelsea immediately looked more of a the ball long enough to service the Ivorian route to the last four and they snapped tigerishly into their ing moments of Wednesday’s Champions upset by the ferocity of Blues boss Jose potent force. striker. — AFP tackles in the opening moments. — AFP