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Home , Anthony Martial, Riyad Mahrez

SPORTS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2016 Man United set sights on fragile Sunderland

SUNDERLAND: Manchester United will face the worst defense in the today, which should have their strike-force of and Anthony Martial licking their lips in anticipation. Sunderland have conceded 49 goals so far this season-the main reason why Sam Allardyce’s side find themselves in relegation trouble inside the bottom three. Their record at the Stadium of Light is not as troubling, with only 13 goals conceded on home turf to date. But the Black Cats are evidently vulnerable and Rooney and Martial will be looking to add to their goal tallies as United bid to keep their prospects of Champions League qualification alive. They go into the weekend six points off the top four under , whose position remains under intense scrutiny following reports of an approach for Jose Mourinho to replace the Dutchman as manager at . Rooney, who scored one of the goals in United’s comfortable 3-0 home win over Sunderland in September, has netted seven times in his last eight games. And while Martial has scored just once in seven games, the France international looks to be heading back towards top form and needs just one goal to reach double figures in his first season in England. “The amount of ability he’s got is huge. The potential is certainly there,” said Michael Carrick of 20-year-old Martial. “It’s easy to forget the age he is and how little football he’s actually played as well. To have such an impact at this stage, MANCHESTER: This file photo taken on February 6, 2016 shows Leicester City’s Algerian Riyad Mahrez cele- with the expectations based on him and the way he’s dealt brating scoring his team’s second goal during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and with it, has been superb. “His performances have been very Leicester City at the Etihad Stadium. — AFP good. I think we have to understand that sometimes he might not be that shining light and have days when it’s not quite happening for him, and that’s understandable. “But over time Mahrez thumbs nose at he’ll improve and I’ve seen a big improvement already in this short time. Hopefully that trend will continue and he’ll get better and better.” England’s aristocracy ‘We need six wins’ United have lost just one of their last nine games, but con- ceded a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Chelsea last Sunday LONDON: The baton passed from Eden 15 as a moment that hardened his he was a Premier League footballer. It that saw them slip six points behind Manchester City, who are Hazard to Riyad Mahrez in the second resolve to succeed. took him a season to find his feet among currently fourth. Van Gaal’s side therefore have little margin minute of Leicester City’s 2-1 victory “I don’t know if I started to be more England’s elite, but since scoring twice for error if they are to close the gap and with the top four over Chelsea at the King Power Stadium serious, but after the death of my dad in a 4-2 win over Sunderland on the sides all playing each other this weekend, they must take in December. As Hazard ambled over to things started to go for me,” he told The opening day of the current campaign, advantage of dropped points elsewhere. close Mahrez down on the Leicester Guardian in September. “Maybe in my the 24-year-old has been flying. Fit-again defender Phil Jones could return after playing for right, the Algerian nonchalantly popped head I wanted it more.” Saint- He signed a new four-year contract in United’s under-21s against Norwich City on Monday, when the ball between his legs before advanc- Germain and Marseille, his boyhood August, became the first Algerian to striker Will Keane, 23, scored five times to stake his claim for a ing and taking a shot at goal, leaving the team, watched him at Quimper, but he score a Premier League hat-trick in place in the senior squad. Sunderland go into the game hav- Chelsea number 10 in his wake. opted to remain in the northwest and December, with a treble at Swansea ing sacked England international Adam Johnson on Thursday Hazard was the Premier League’s join the acclaimed youth set-up at Le City, and was named Algerian Footballer after the winger pleaded guilty to child sex charges. showboater-in-chief in 2014-15, but his Havre, whose alumni include Juventus of the Year last month. His dizzying foot- Sunderland have not beaten United at home in the league crown has been stolen by Mahrez, star . work has made him a social media phe- for almost 19 years and Allardyce says they will have to win whose 14 goals and 10 assists make him nomenon and with 22 caps, he is more games in their final 13 matches than they have in their one of the favorites to succeed the ‘Genius’ now an established international for the previous 25 to have any hope of staying up. Second-bottom Belgian as England’s Player of the Year. Mahrez broke into the first team in land of his father’s birth. Sunderland have five league victories so far, but Allardyce The two players were born a month 2012 and after tracking him for 18 His market value, meanwhile, has believes it will take six more to bridge the four-point gap to apart in 1991 and both are quick, skilful months, Leicester made their move in rocketed to levels approaching Hazard’s. safety as they bid to extend their nine-season stay in the top forwards who learnt their trade in north- January 2014. “Everybody was saying to “If Messi had done some of the things flight. “We’re not quite into the territory of having to win ern France-Hazard at Lille, Mahrez at Le me: ‘Riyad, England is not for you, it is that Mahrez has pulled off, we’d be back-to-back matches at this stage,” said Allardyce, whose Havre. But it is where their similarities too physical, too strong,’” he said. “But shouting genius,” says Habib Beye, the side fought back to draw 2-2 at Liverpool last weekend. “But end that the symbolism begins. when I got here I really liked it. When I former Newcastle United right-back looking at it, we need six wins from our last 13 matches to get Hazard, a £32 million ($46.3 million, started training and playing games I turned French television pundit. Jamie us to 38 points.” — AFP 41.3 million Euros) signing from Lille in thought to myself: ‘I was stupid to hesi- Vardy and N’Golo Kante have dealt out 2012, has become the sleep-walking tate.’ “If I was still playing in the second their fair share of bloody noses for incarnation of Chelsea’s slump from division in France, nobody would have Leicester this season, but it is Mahrez champions to mid-ranking also-rans. watched me.” who Ranieri describes as the team’s “ref- Leicester have taken their place at the Four months after arriving in erence point”. “When we need to cre- summit and in the impish Mahrez, a England, he was celebrating the ate,” the Italian explains, “we give the £400,000 bargain buy from Le Havre, Championship title and by the August ball to him.” — AFP they possess a figure who embodies the Premier League’s startling democratisa- tion. English Premier League table He tied Manchester City in knots last weekend, inspiring Leicester to a sensa- LONDON: English Premier League table ahead of this weekend’s matches tional 3-1 win, and on Sunday it is (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Arsenal’s turn, as ’s men look to defend their five-point lead at Leicester 25 15 8 2 47 2753 Stoke 25 9 6 10 24 31 33 the top of the table. Tottenham 25 13 9 3 45 19 48 Crystal Palace25 9 5 11 26 30 32 Born in Sarcelles, an ethnically Arsenal 25 14 6 5 39 22 48 Chelsea 25 7 9 9 33 35 30 diverse northern suburb of Paris, to an Man City 25 14 5 6 47 26 47 West Brom 25 7 8 10 23 32 29 Algerian father and Moroccan mother, Man Utd 25 11 8 6 32 22 41 Bournemouth257 7 11 29 41 28 West Ham 25 10 9 6 38 29 39 Swansea 25 6 9 10 24 33 27 LONDON: Manchester United’s English striker Wayne Mahrez began his career with local club AAS Sarcelles and joined fourth-tier Southampton25 10 7 8 33 24 37 Newcastle 25 6 6 13 26 44 24 Rooney(left) has a shot on goal by Chelsea’s English Everton 25 8 11 6 46 34 35 Norwich 25 6 5 14 28 48 23 defender Gary Cahill during the English Premier League Quimper in 2009. Frequently dismissed by coaches for being too scrawny, he Liverpool 25 9 8 8 32 36 35 Sunderland 25 5 5 15 30 49 20 football match between Chelsea and Manchester United Watford 25 9 6 10 27 27 33 Aston Villa 25 3 7 15 20 40 16 at Stamford Bridge.— AFP cites the loss of his father when he was