NBA | Page 7 TENNIS | Page 11 Warriors Federer and To Advertise here Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 edge Cavs Djokovic in in rematch race to be fi rst of fi nals $100mn man Sunday, December 27, 2015 CRICKET Rabia I 16, 1437 AH Burns and Khawaja GULF TIMES pummel West Indies on Boxing Day SPORT Page 5 FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT Stoke expose Van PSG arrive in Doha today By Sports Reporter amazing . Everything, from sports to Doha medical facilities, will be at our dis- posal. Another big advantage is the Gaal, Benteke climate. It is the best possible weather aris Saint-Germain will ar- to work with the squad and there is rive in Doha today for their not such a big time diff erence between winter training camp, which Qatar and Paris,” he said. will include a friendly match “We will avoid the usual endless Pagainst Serie A leaders Inter Milan at plane journeys that you need in order the Jassim bin Hamad stadium on De- to get this sort of weather. With such cember 30. short tours, the time diff erence can be sinks Leicester The camp is part of PSG’s prepara- a problem, especially when you come tions for the second half of the season, back. But this won’t be the case for the highlight of which is a show- us.” United have now gone seven games without victory in all competitions down with Chelsea in the Champi- PSG captain Thiago Silva has also ons League. This tie will take place in spoken about his keenness to make AFP February. PSG’s season is still loaded good use of the Qatar camp. London Christian Benteke (C) celebrates scoring RESULTS/STANDINGS with competitions; in addition to the “I think it is very important for the the first goal for Liverpool with Adam Champions League they are leading club to go on this tour,” said Silva. “We Lallana and Jordan Henderson yesterday. Stoke City ......................2 Man United ..............0 the French league and are still in the know the owners are from Qatar, so it anchester United manager Aston Villa ....................1 West Ham ................. 1 Cup competitions as well. is very important for them and for the Louis van Gaal’s future Bournemouth ........0 Crystal Palace .........0 PSG manager Laurent Blanc said club. But it is a good thing to go over was plunged into serious Chelsea ...........................2 Watford.............................2 he was looking forward to the camp there, as the locals love Paris Saint- doubt yesterday as his side Liverpool .......................1 Leicester City ............0 in Doha and the friendly against Inter Germain and the players.” Mcrashed 2-0 at Stoke City, while lead- Milan. The Brazilian added that the team’s Man City ......................4 Sunderland ...................1 ers Leicester City lost at Liverpool. Tottenham ...................3 Norwich City .............0 He expressed his belief that his camp in Doha last year did them a United have now gone seven games Swansea City .............1 West Brom ...................0 side can go from strength to strength world of good during the remainder of without victory in all competitions— P W D L F A Pts as they seek domestic and European the season. their worst run since 1989-90 — and titles. They are 19 points clear at the “Last year for instance, it really 1 Leicester 18 11 5 2 37 25 38 speculation is rife that Van Gaal will top in Ligue 1, while in the Champions helped us to go on the tour as we came 2 Arsenal 17 11 3 3 31 14 36 pay for their slump with his job. League they face Chelsea in the fi nal back and were even better, fi nishing He had described the match as 3 Man City 18 11 2 5 37 20 35 16. the season in the best way possible. “must-win”, but his side were deserv- 4 Tottenham 18 8 8 2 31 14 32 Blanc said that training camps like I hope that this year, it will again be edly beaten after Bojan Krkic pun- 5 Crystal Palace 18 9 3 6 23 16 30 the one in Doha helps increase the benefi cial and maybe make us strong- ished a Memphis Depay error to open 6 Man United 18 8 5 5 22 16 29 bond between the players, which er for the Champions League. the scoring in the 19th minute before 7 Watford 18 8 5 5 23 18 29 translates to better performances on “When we are all over there, we Marko Arnautovic slammed home a 8 Liverpool 18 7 6 5 21 22 27 the pitch. He said the conditions, in- work really well together, we stay in an second goal seven minutes later. 9 West Ham 18 6 8 4 26 22 26 cluding the weather and what he said amazing hotel that gives us the best Van Gaal’s side slipped to sixth in 10 Stoke City 18 7 5 6 16 16 26 were exceptional facilities at Aspire, conditions to rest and recharge the the table, three points below the top 11 Everton 17 5 8 4 31 24 23 will help make the camp a success. batteries. It’s an advantage for the rest four, with Stoke, managed by former 12 Southampton 17 5 6 6 21 21 21 “They (the facilities at Aspire) are of the season.” United striker Mark Hughes, now 13 West Brom 18 5 5 8 17 24 20 three points behind them in 10th place. 14 Bournemouth 18 5 5 8 22 32 20 Leicester lost 1-0 at Anfi eld, their 15 Chelsea 18 5 4 9 23 29 19 fi rst away defeat of the campaign, 16 Swansea 18 4 6 8 16 24 18 with Christian Benteke sliding home 17 Norwich 18 4 5 9 20 32 17 a 63rd-minute winner after coming 18 Newcastle 17 4 5 8 19 32 17 on to replace the injured Divock Origi 19 Sunderland 18 3 3 12 19 37 12 before half-time. 20 Aston Villa 18 1 5 12 15 32 8 Benteke spurned a gilt-edged chance to make the game safe in stoppage time when he was thwarted a breezy 4-1 win over second-bot- utes after coming on following eight have given the champions all three by Wes Morgan after Leicester goal- tom Sunderland that left them three games out with a calf injury. points. keeper Kasper Schmeichel had gone points off the summit. Tottenham Hotspur tightened Troy Deeney, with a penalty, up for a throw-in, but his earlier Raheem Sterling, Yaya Toure and their grip on fourth place by over- and Odion Ighalo put Watford 2-1 strike was enough to give manager Wilfried Bony scored inside the coming Norwich City 3-0 at White ahead after Costa had given Chelsea Jurgen Klopp a fi rst win in four league fi rst 22 minutes to put City in con- Hart Lane, where Harry Kane scored a 32nd-minute lead, but the Spain games. trol, with Kevin De Bruyne adding a twice—the fi rst a penalty—to take his striker equalised in the 65th minute Leicester’s defeat, only their sec- fourth before Fabio Borini replied for tally for the season to 13. from Willian’s pass. ond of the season, means that Arse- Sam Allardyce’s side. Tom Carroll was also on target. Oscar had a chance to give Chelsea nal can go top if they win at South- But it was not all positive news Diego Costa scored twice as Guus victory when substitute Eden Hazard ampton later on Boxing Day. for City manager Manuel Pellegrini, Hiddink began his second spell as was fouled by Valon Behrami, but the Manchester City reignited their ti- with Bony skying a late penalty and, Chelsea interim manager with a Brazilian slipped as he took his pen- tle challenge by bouncing back from more worryingly, skipper Vincent 2-2 draw at home to Watford, Oscar alty and sent the ball looping into the Monday’s 2-1 defeat at Arsenal with Kompany limping off just 10 min- missing a late penalty that would crowd. PSG stars Thiago Silva (R) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. BASKETBALL Galloway nails thrilling win for Al Gharafa By Sports Reporter jectedly as Al Gharafa soon turned Doha the tables. Al Rayyan had gotten off to a fl yer, leading 25-13 at the end of the fi rst wayne Galloway scored off quarter but Al Gharafa caught up in the two free-throws just be- second and maintained a healthy lead fore the buzzer as Al Gharafa before matters got exciting in the fi nal pipped Al Rayyan, 77-76, quarter. Din the Qatar Basketball League last Gharafa’s Galloway was the top evening. scorer for either side with 23 points, Al Gharafa had taken a fi ve-point while Mohamed Saad lent him fi ne lead (60-55) into the fi nal quarter only support by scoring 20. for Al Rayyan to make a fi ght of it late Alban Ngombo and Dominic Davon in the match. scored 22 and 18, respectively, for Al With the clock ticking away and Al Rayyaan. Rayyan leading 76-75, Al Gharafa were In another match yesterday, Al Wak- awarded a foul, and despite the intense rah thrashed Qatar Sports Club 66-47 pressure, Galloway nailed both his with Adamu Saaka starring for the throws to clinch a 77-76 victory for his winners with a game-high 33 points. side. Anthony Woods was the top-scorer Earlier, with less than nine sec- for Qatar Sports Club, while Omar Is- onds to go, Al Rayyan had them- mail scored 10.