Chelsea Return to Summit
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Rosberg edges Pineau de Re Hamilton wins National for pole spot in Bahrain SUNDAY, APRIL 6, 2014 17 18 Dhoni and India stand on the cusp of record treble Page 17 LONDON: Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic (below) falls as he is fouled by Stoke City’s Marc Munlesa during their English Premier League soccer match at Stamford Bridge stadium. — AP Chelsea return to summit defeats and maintained Mourinho’s remark- Pieters’s chest-back had failed to reach his with a 32nd-minute goal. German, but referee Lee Probert didn’t see it. able record of never having lost at home in goalkeeper. But the £50 million ($83m, 60m Nemanja Matic supplied the cross from the Schurrle was replaced by Eden Hazard in Chelsea 3 the Premier League. euros) man made little other impact in a first left and the Egyptian, who signed in January the 59th minute and within seconds the And it will also have acted as a timely boost period the home side dominated comfortably from Basel, smashed his shot off Begovic and Belgian had set up the second goal. His back- ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League quar- and was once again out-shone by more indus- into the top of the net. wards flick sent Salah into space and the ter-final decider against Paris Saint-Germain, trious team-mates. The 21-year-old almost scored again soon Egyptian was brought down by Wilkinson’s Stoke 0 where Chelsea must overturn a 3-1 first leg Salah was far busier on the right of an afterwards but over-ran the ball at the crucial crude challenge. deficit if they are to reach the last four. attacking midfield three, although his first moment, allowing Begovic to gather. Begovic parried Lampard’s penalty but the Fernando Torres, the Spain forward, was contribution was to send a tame effort straight Ivanovic thought he had doubled the lead England midfielder was first to the rebound to the early focus of attention after being at Begovic. with a powerful header after Stoke had been double Chelsea’s lead in the 61st minute. LONDON: Chelsea regained top spot in the restored to the Chelsea starting line-up. Branislav Ivanovic headed wide from a cor- caught in possession in their own half but a Stoke were slightly more adventurous after Premier League thanks to a straightforward 3- Wednesday’s defeat in Paris had seen ner before the over-worked Begovic did well raised flag correctly ruled out the ‘goal’ for off- that and began firing long shots at Petr Cech’s 0 win over shot-shy Stoke City at Stamford Mourinho start with no recognised front-man to bat away a deflected drive from Willian and side. goal. But there was no hope for Mark Hughes’s Bridge in yesterday’s late kick-off. and the Portuguese manager complained a low effort from Lampard. Stoke had threatened only occasionally at side once Hazard set up Willian for a perfectly- Goals from Mohamed Salah, Frank afterwards that he lacked “real strikers”. the other end and made a double change at placed curler that gave Begovic no chance in Lampard and Willian were enough for Jose There was no doubt he was talking about SMASHING OPENER the break, sending on Charlie Adam and Andy the 72nd minute to complete the scoring. Mourinho’s side to move ahead of Liverpool, Torres, who fired a low drive wide of the Stoke Torres felt he should have had a penalty as Wilkinson. Chelsea gave England veteran Ashley Cole a who play West Ham on Sunday, by a point. goal early on and was denied an opening goal Geoff Cameron challenged but it wasn’t long Adam’s first contribution was to stamp a 12-minute cameo on the left wing when he Victory also ended a run of two successive by a smart save from Asmir Begovic after Eric before Salah marked his first Chelsea start tackle on Andre Schurrle’s foot, hurting the replaced Willian. — AFP United thrash Newcastle City too strong for Saints because of a toe problem, can take his squad to Germany with extra belief for a time of the season when they can ill-afford Newcastle 0 the return leg of the quarter-final with to slip up. Bayern. Man City 4 Home nerves were quickly eased when In December, Newcastle won at City were gifted the perfect start following a Old Trafford for the first time in 41 costly misjudgement by Jose Fonte that led years. However, any hope they had of to Toure’s opening goal. Man United 4 a first double over reigning English Southampton 1 The opportunity was created by an inci- champions United since 1931 disap- sive break, started deep in the home half by peared with Mata’s opener. Newcastle Toure and continued by David Silva who would have been encouraged to see released Dzeko wide on the left. The striker NEWCASTLE: Juan Mata scored twice MANCHESTER: Manchester City stepped up as he helped Manchester United eight changes to the team Moyes sent advanced into the penalty area and cut and out in Tuesday’s first leg with Bayern. the pressure on their Premier League title wrong-footed Fonte before being tripped by warm up for a daunting trip to Bayern rivals with a 4-1 victory over Southampton at Munich with a comfortable 4-0 victory The absence of Rooney and Robin the defender’s trailing leg. van Persie, who remains sidelined the Etihad Stadium yesterday. Toure converted the penalty with ease, over Newcastle in the Premier League Scheduled to play before Chelsea and at St James’ Park yesterday. The with knee trouble, meant an opportu- sending Paulo Gazzaniga-the Saints keeper nity for Hernandez, who struggled ini- Liverpool in this weekend’s round of fixtures, drafted into the side in place of Artur Boruc Spaniard curled in a brilliant free-kick Manuel Pellegrini’s side took full advantage to put the champions ahead six min- tially to find an opportunity in front of who injured his back in training-the wrong goal. with Yaya Toure’s third minute penalty set- way. Having seen his team handed the plat- utes before half-time and the £37.1 LONDON: Manchester United’s Shinji Kagawa (right) vies for the ball ting them on course for victory and Stevan million ($61.2m, 44.8m euros) January Before Ashley Young, who had to form of an early goal, Pellegrini might rea- be withdrawn with a hand injury with Newcastle United’s Mike Williamson (left) during their English Jovetic wrapping up the win in nine minutes sonably have expected to see City assert arrival from Chelsea showed his class Premier League soccer match at St James’ Park. — AP from time. and composure with a second goal inside a quarter of an hour after a their authority. challenge in the area from left-back stop to turn a Cisse header over for a But Mata made it 2-0 soon after the In between, they had been forced to over- But it was Southampton who responded five minutes into the second half. come the shock of conceding a 37th minute While Newcastle struggled to Massadio Haidara, was forced off he corner. re-start, even if he should never have more positively, enjoying extended periods had looked most likely to create had the chance. Newcastle captain equaliser to Rickie Lambert’s penalty before of possession without really troubling improve on a run which now reads 10 regaining control with two goals in first half defeats from their last 15 games, an something down the right. SUBLIME FREE-KICK Fabricio Coloccini chested a long punt England goalkeeper Joe Hart. But Newcastle fashioned the clear- United, though, got the big chance from Lindegaard towards Haidara. added-time from Samir Nasri and Edin The game lost momentum midway effective United looked ultra-confi- Dzeko-although City clearly benefited from dent just days after surprisingly draw- er cut openings before the break- they craved when Darren Fletcher was Both players left it, Hernandez nipped through the first period when Rodriguez was through. Dan Gosling, starting a tripped on the edge of the area by in and ran at speed deep in to the box an incorrect offside decision in the build-up stretchered off after landing awkwardly on ing 1-1 with Champions League-hold- to Nasri’s goal. For Southampton, defeat ers Bayern at Old Trafford. Premier League game for only the sec- Gosling. Mata, who scored his first before rolling the ball in to the path of his right leg as he attempted to control a ond time since moving to St James’ in goal for the club against Aston Villa a Mata. The Spain midfielder side- came with the added cost of a serious-look- high ball in the 26th minute. Mexican striker Javier Hernandez ing knee injury to Jay Rodriguez that could added a third goal with 25 minutes 2010, had an early header fly wide, week earlier, stepped up and curled in stepped Coloccini before finishing Nine minutes later Dzeko missed a glaring while Papiss Cisse turned a tame over- a sublime free-kick over the wall and calmly and smartly beyond Elliot. And rule the forward out of England’s World Cup opportunity to double his side’s lead when remaining before Mata finished a plans. memorable afternoon with a lovely head kick straight at goalkeeper into the top left corner of goalkeeper when Januzaj, a first-half substitute for he headed Nasri’s free-kick against the bar Anders Lindegaard.