Sri Lanka Rooney’s defeat S Africa wonder lob keeps United on a high

SUNDAY, MARCH 23, 2014 17 19

Venus advances as Li handed walkover Page 16

LONDON: Arsenal’s (centre) vies for the ball with Chelsea’s Eden Hazard (left) and David Luiz during the English soccer match . — AP Chelsea hit Arsenal for six

courtesy of Samuel Eto’o and Andre Schurrle. Mohamed Salah completed Chelsea’s most Giroud scored in the fourth minute. Tomas Koscielny’s legs that gave Szczesny no chance. Despite the heavy defeat, the main talking emphatic win over Arsenal with his team’s Rosicky fed the Frenchman with a slide-rule Chelsea then lost Eto’o to an apparent ham- Chelsea 6 point of this eagerly-anticipated contest came sixth. pass, but Petr Cech produced a neat save string injury, with Fernando Torres coming on, in the 17th minute when Arsenal left back At half-time, fourth official down to his left. but by the time of Marriner’s blunder, the Kieran Gibbs was incorrectly shown a red card confirmed to television broadcasters that That started Arsenal’s problems as the ball game already seemed over. by referee . The official pointed Gibbs’s red card had been a case of mistaken did not go out of play and Chelsea launched a To Chelsea’s credit, they went on to show a Arsenal 0 to the spot when a right-foot shot from Eden identity. lightning-quick counter-attack. ruthless streak by ramming home their domi- Hazard was tipped around the post by the left But regardless of the referee’s mistake, this Schurrle exchanged passed with Hazard nance to put the pressure on title rivals hand of Arsenal Alex Oxlade- was another shambolic defensive perform- before threading a ball through to Eto’o on the Liverpool and City. Chamberlain. ance by Wenger’s Arsenal, who had previously right-hand side of the penalty box. Oscar bagged his first goal four minutes : Chelsea dealt a crushing blow to Yet Marriner ordered Gibbs to leave the conceded six goals at Manchester City and five The striker cut inside Oxlade-Chamberlain before the break when the Brazilian shot into Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes with a 6-0 field, despite television replays showing at Liverpool this season. and expertly finished into the far corner the roof of the net following Torres’s cross victory yesterday after one of the beaten Oxlade-Chamberlain apparently telling the beyond Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech from the right. team’s players had been mistakenly sent off. official, “Ref, it was me!” SLIDE-RULE PASS Szczesny. He completed his brace in the 66th minute Chelsea were in no mood to allow Arsenal Gibbs continued to protest his innocence Arsenal have now let in 34 league goals this Worse was to follow for Wenger two min- with a shot from outside the box that manager Arsene Wenger to celebrate his as he walked off, before Hazard slotted home term, with half coming in just 270 minutes of utes later as Schurrle doubled Chelsea’s appeared to catch Szczesny by surprise, before 1,000th game in charge and raced into a two- the spot-kick. Oscar added a brace of goals football. Yet it all could have been very differ- advantage when he received Nemanja Matic’s Salah ran through five minutes later to score goal lead inside the opening seven minutes, either side of half-time, before substitute ent for the visitors had Arsenal striker Olivier pass and fired a shot through Laurent his first Chelsea goal. — AFP Liverpool slams Long returns to haunt six past Cardiff struggling West Brom last weekend’s 2-0 defeat. Solskjaer’s team were already con- Aside from Boyd, who had come on as demned to a defeat which left them Hull 2 a substitute, the only change made by Cardiff 3 second bottom of the table and three manager Steve Bruce was the return of points from safety. striker Sone Aluko. West Brom also made Rodgers made just one change to one change, striker Thievy Bifouma the side that crushed Manchester West Brom 0 replacing suspended defender Jonas Liverpool 6 United 3-0 last weekend, with Philippe Olsson. Coutinho taking over on the left side of Hull took the lead on the half hour, midfield from Raheem Sterling. HULL: came back to haunt despite West Brom keeper Ben Foster pro- From Cardiff’s first piece of posses- his old club West Bromwich Albion yester- ducing a fine save to deny Nikica Jelavic’s CARDIFF: Luis Suarez blasted a hat- sion, Steven Gerrard was booked for CARDIFF: Liverpool’s Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez celebrates scoring day, the Republic of Ireland international right-footed penalty into the bottom cor- trick as Liverpool kept the pressure on hauling down Campbell. Kim Bo- his team’s fourth goal during the English Premier League football playing a central role in Hull City’s 2-0 win ner, with the rebound nodded in by Liam Kyung’s free kick led to a corner and Premier League leaders Chelsea with a match against Cardiff City. —AFP at his new home at the KC Stadium. Rosenior. The spot kick was awarded remarkable 6-3 victory over Cardiff yes- when Liverpool failed to clear, Kevin Theophile-Catherine spooned his shot Thirty seconds after that, City were Sturridge was becoming increasing- Long, sold by the struggling Baggies to against Craig Dawson’s attempt to beat terday. Hull in the January , won Long to a loose ball in what was arguably Brendan Rodgers’ side trailed twice over the top of Simon Mignolet’s goal. celebrating more success down the ly influential and his cross-shot just the first-half penalty that led to the open- a tough decision against the visitors. in the first half at the Cardiff City Liverpool were under heavy pres- right. This time, Campbell cut inside before the hour mark crashed into the Stadium, but eventually overwhelmed sure early on and in the ninth minute and beat Mignolet with his left foot to side netting. ing goal then scored the second to wrap Long doubled Hull’s lead eight min- the struggling hosts with another sub- Cardiff were in front. Fabio and make it 2-1. Although Rodgers seemed to be up the game played in pelting rain before utes after winning the penalty. The 27- lime attacking display. Campbell combined down the right Cardiff continued to look the more encouraging his side to take the sting the break. year-old striker latched on to another for- Suarez was the key to Liverpool’s and when the latter fed the ball inside likely with Liverpool’s next best effort out of the contest, Liverpool swept for- The Tigers’ win pushed Steve Bruce’s FA mer Baggies player Curtis Davies’ headed blistering performance and the to Mutch, the former mid- being a Coutinho shot from distance ward in search of the goal that would Cup semi-finalists up a place to 12th on 33 pass off a corner to beat Foster with a Uruguay forward now has 28 league fielder beat Mignolet with a crisp strike that finished closer to the corner flag seal the points. points with West Brom staying in 16th, only left-footed shot from the centre of the goals this season, while Liverpool have from 15 yards. than David Marshall’s goal. It came in the 61st minute when an three points above the relegation zone. box, the ball thudding into the bottom However, five minutes from half audacious back heel from Sturridge scored 18 times in their last five match- Eight minutes later, the visitors were This was Hull’s first home win in seven right corner. es. Defender Martin Skrtel weighed in level. Showing terrific patience against time, Coutinho whipped in a teasing picked out Suarez who did the rest cross that Skrtel volleyed past Marshall from eight yards. outings at the KC Stadium, the last com- In deference to his former supporters with two goals, while Daniel Sturridge Cardiff’s rearguard action, Jordan ing back in December with the 6-0 rout of in the away stands, Long kept his goal cel- Henderson fed the ball inside Declan from close range. Suarez returned the compliment 10 was also on target as Liverpool stayed Fulham. ebrations to an absolute minimum. John and Glen Johnson’s cross was dis- Eight minutes into the second half minutes later with Sturridge beating within four points of Chelsea with a He went close to inflicting further pain patched with aplomb by Suarez. and with Theophile-Catherine and Marshall from barely three yards after a And it was only their third win out of game in hand over Jose Mourinho’s 11 this year. Hull were missing George on the Baggies when his shot from out- table-toppers. Cardiff had led through Sensing a weakness on Liverpool’s Mutch off the field having been treated delightful cross from the Uruguayan. Boyd, the forward having lost his appeal side the box in the 66th minute hit the Jordan Mutch and Fraizer Campbell left, Bellamy immediately set up an for head injuries, Liverpool took the Mutch snatched an 88th minute conso- goals, but by the time Mutch scored opportunity for Campbell who headed lead when Skrtel rose to head home lation but it was too little too late for against a three match ban for spitting at post. Shortly after he limped off injured, again in the closing stages, Ole Gunnar over from six yards. Coutinho’s corner. the Bluebirds. — AFP Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart in his work done for the afternoon. —AFP