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BIRMINGHAM: Aston Villa’s English defender Nathan Baker (R) tackles United’s English striker Danny Welbeck (L) during the English football match between Aston Villa and Manchester United at in Birmingham yesterday. — AFP Welbeck double lifts United’s spirits

and everyone got together and played good match the tempo and left far too many open the sidelines, with dropping I played quite well and kept the ball and kept football and got the goals,” Welbeck told spaces for United players to flood into. Antonio deep. Rooney did skim the outside of a post us ticking at a high tempo. I want to kick on Man Utd 3 broadcaster Sky Sports. “Good strikers finish Valencia gave defender Antonio Luna a miser- after Valencia had opted to pass rather than from here now and so does the team.” and that’s where I want to play - up top, but I’m able time, and Rafael was able to surge to the shoot after driving deep into the area.Welbeck After the goal, Cleverley was throwing him- happy to play in the team whether on the left byline and send over a superb cross that was spurned a glorious chance to claim his first hat- self in front of Andreas Weimann’s shot as or right.” met perfectly by Adnan Januzaj. trick from a very similar position after Valencia United attempted to preserve their healthy Aston Villa 0 In a vibrant United display, The teenager’s header flashed past goal- had once again proved too hot to handle. advantage, a sign in itself of the determination netted his first goal of the season seven min- keeper Brad Guzan, and when it came bounc- It was an all-too-familiar story for Villa, for in the away ranks to right the wrongs of a utes into the second half as the champions ing back off a post, Welbeck was racing in to whom Christian Benteke was a shadow of the dreadful few weeks. avoided a third straight league loss. The victory apply a first-time finish to the rebound to put striker who terrorized defenses throughout The return of United Darren BIRMINGHAM: Danny Welbeck’s double pushed United up to eighth place, 10 points United in front. last season. Early in the second half, Rooney Fletcher from the bench after almost 12 steered Manchester United to a 3-0 victory at behind leader Arsenal. Within three minutes, the visitors had struck powered forward and slipped a pass to months out due to a chronic bowel condition Aston Villa yesterday to halt a four-game win- It was lapped up by a vocal away support, again. This time Valencia provided the oppor- Cleverley, who drove home his first Premier merely added to the party atmosphere less run in the Premier League. The pressure who chanted: “We are staying up.” Villa Park is tunity, with Welbeck sliding between defend- League goal in almost a year. among the away support. United goalkeeper eased on manager as Welbeck one of the most accommodating grounds for ers to touch home. It was the perfect way for “It plays on your mind when you’re a mid- David De Gea denied Karim El Ahmadi after sidefooted in the opener in the 15th minute United, which is unbeaten there since 1995. United to answer their critics, and Welbeck to fielder that you have to score a few goals,” Welbeck had earlier floated a chip onto the and the striker found the target again inside The visitors helped themselves with their silence a few of his. The England striker rev- Cleverley told Sky Sports. “We played as a roof of Guzan’s goal but by then, thousands of three minutes. speed and intensity, a sharp improvement on eled in the responsibility of leading the attack- three, which gave us more license. A year of Villa fans had already started to head for the “It was a good all-round team performance grim recent performances. Villa was unable to ing line as starts his month on not scoring came out in my celebration.”I think exits. — AP draw Five-star Liverpool swamp sorry Spurs

with Norwich Tottenham 0 then beat exposed Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy with a measured lob. Swansea 1 Michu could have made it 2-0 when he Liverpool 5 fired over from a Ben Davies cut-back, but Norwich showed notice of their intent when Hooper picked Williams’s pocket, Norwich 1 only to shoot off-target. LONDON: Luis Suarez scored twice as Liverpool There followed the injury to Dyer that moved back into second place in the Premier seemed to rob Swansea of their momen- League with a crushing 5-0 defeat of Tottenham NORWICH: Swansea City’s Nathan Dyer tum, with the winger stretchered off and Hotspur at White Hart Lane yesterday. scored but was then stretchered off with a given oxygen after his ankle buckled in a , Jon Flanagan and Raheem serious ankle injury as his side drew 1-1 at duel with Bassong. Sterling were also on target, with the victory taking Norwich City in the Premier League Norwich were quick to exploit the visi- Brendan Rodgers’s side above Chelsea on goal dif- yesterSunday. tors’ vulnerability, with Williams heading a ference and to within two points of leaders Arsenal. The 26-year-old winger put Swansea shot off the line before Hooper equalised Suarez’s double continued his outstanding scor- ahead with a 12th-minute lob, but after in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage ing run and the striker has now scored 17 Premier he was carried off later in the first half, League goals this season, while Liverpool took time. LONDON: Liverpool’s English defender Jon Flanagan (L) scores a goal during the English struck with a glorious volley Johan Elmander brought down a long their tally to 14 goals in the last three games. The impressive one-sided win confirmed Premier League football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool at White Hart Lane to earn the home side a share of the ball from Steven Whittaker and teed up in London, England, yesterday. Liverpool won 5-0. — AFP points. the former Celtic striker, who sent a glori- Liverpool’s credentials as title contenders, while Swansea subsequently published a ous 25-yard volley dipping beneath the defeat brought an end to Tottenham’s recent But that proved to be a temporary let-off for the again reacted well and drilled home the second statement on Twitter revealing that Dyer crossbar to register his fourth goal in six recovery after they had fallen to successive defeats home side, with Suarez making no mistake after rebound. Villas-Boas clearly needed to make had been taken to hospital with a “sus- league games. against Newcastle United and Manchester City. Henderson’s reactions proved to be quicker than changes and he responded by replacing Naughton pected fractured ankle”. Norwich sought to press home their Now five points adrift of the top four and eight those of Michael Dawson, the Spurs centre-back. with Zeki Fryers at half-time, and no doubt The draw meant that Swansea advantage in the second period, with points off first place, the focus will again be trained Dawson appeared to have cut out Suarez’s instructed his players to match Liverpool’s greater remained in 10th place, while Norwich, Bassong heading wide from a corner and on manager Andre Villas-Boas, who also saw mid- threaded pass but he was dispossessed by industry and movement. The response was posi- who would have leapfrogged their oppo- Whittaker grazing the post with a low fielder Paulinho sent off for a high challenge on Henderson, who picked out Suarez as the striker tive, with Roberto Soldado firing over immediately nents with victory, climbed one position drive. Suarez. burst into the Spurs area. A neat side-step took the after the restart. to 14th. Norwich were unchanged from Alejandro Pozuelo, Dyer’s replacement, The fact that Suarez has now scored two more Reds skipper around , before he slotted That, though, proved to be a brief moment of the team that won 2-0 at West Bromwich shot high after a one-two with Premier League goals than Tottenham have man- home a side-foot finish. promise for the home side and the woodwork Albion last weekend, while Swansea man- Hernandez, but Norwich soon resumed aged altogether highlights Spurs’ weaknesses up The goal highlighted the difference between denied Liverpool four minutes later when ager made eight their assault and saw centre-back Michael front, but this defeat exposed frailties in all depart- the two teams, while Liverpool’s greater pace and Mamadou Sakho headed against the post. changes to the team that had lost to St Turner hit the bar with a header from a ments. incisive passing exposed the gaps in the Any hope of a Tottenham recovery disappeared Gallen in the Europa League on Thursday. corner. Spurs actually succeeded in keeping Suarez qui- Tottenham defence. Liverpool were unaffected by in the 63rd minute when Paulinho challenged Michu was among the players who Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm et for the opening 15 minutes of the game but Gerrard’s absence in central midfield, while Sterling Suarez for a bouncing ball, planting his studs in the came into the visitors’ starting XI, in place saved smartly from Hooper and Nathan once he caught sight of the home goal, Villas- was giving Spurs left-back Kyle Naughton a torrid Uruguayan’s ribs and earning a straight red card. of Wilfried Bony, and after Pablo Redmond shot narrowly wide, but the vis- Boas’s side found the Uruguay forward impossible time. The visitors’ failure to convert a number of Flanagan compounded the home side’s misery Hernandez had shot wide in the early itors survived and might even have to handle. chances meant Tottenham retained hope of recov- with a first-time shot from Suarez’s cross before the stages, Swansea took the lead. snatched victory at the death. Installed as captain in the absence of Steven ery. But with the Spurs defence in disarray, more Liverpool captain scored his second in the 84th Dyer belied his diminutive stature by Bony, on as a substitute, went close Gerrard, who is expected to be out for around six chances were always likely to come Liverpool’s way minute when he chipped Lloris from outside the beating Sebastien Bassong to a high ball with a curler, before Jonjo Shelvey drew a weeks with a hamstring problem, Suarez almost and they finally made it 2-0 in the 40th minute. area after being played through by Luis Alberto. wrong-footed Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris with from Swansea skipper Ashley Williams and fine save from Ruddy. — AFP Lloris produced two fine saves to deny first Sterling completed the rout in the 89th minute an improvised shot that drifted narrowly wide. Henderson and then Suarez, before Henderson after being sent clear by Suarez. — AFP