RUGBY | Page 6 CCRICKETRICKET | Page 7 Resurgent Pujara hits Ireland deny ton to keep England India in grand slam the fi ght Sunday, March 19, 2017 FOOTBALL Jumada II 20, 1438 AH Guardiola on GULF TIMES ropes as Liverpool come swinging SPORT Page 2 FOOTBALL/EPL LA LIGA Wenger to decide Casemiro guides leaders ‘soon’, Cahill to Real through Athletic test Reuters Zinedine Zidane’s side had returned to Chelsea’s rescue Barcelona the top of the table last week after capi- talising on Barcelona’s shock defeat at Craig Dawson scored two headers at The Hawthorns as West Brom Deportivo La Coruna with victory over eal Madrid went fi ve points Real Betis. condemned Arsenal to a sixth defeat in nine games in all competitions clear a the top of La Liga af- But the coach faced criticism for the ter coming through a testing team’s leaky defence, which had shipped AFP manager Antonio Conte termed a “lit- Rgame at Athletic Bilbao to win nine goals in the last fi ve league games. London tle problem” aff ecting his calf. 2-1 thanks to Brazilian midfi eld linchpin They knew they would be tested by an They took the lead in the 13th minute Casemiro’s strike yesterday. Athletic side who had the second-best when Willian’s free-kick from wide on Karim Benzema fi red Real ahead in the home record in the league and had not rsene Wenger revealed he the left caught out Stoke goalkeeper 25th minute with an exquisite fi rst-time lost at home since being beaten by Bar- will make an announcement Lee Grant at his near post. fi nish from a Cristiano Ronaldo cross af- celona in August. about his Arsenal future Jonathan Walters levelled with a ter Casemiro had begun the move with a The Basques made a more energetic “very soon” after his side’s 38th-minute penalty awarded for a clever long ball from the halfway line. start and nearly took the lead when Raul Aproblems increased in a 3-1 defeat at push on him by Cahill, but the England Athletic worked hard to get back into Garcia acrobatically volleyed at goal, West Bromwich Albion yesterday. defender atoned to smash in a late win- the game and, after Real keeper Keylor catching Keylor Navas off guard al- “I know what I’ll do in my future, so ner from Cesc Fabregas’s free-kick. Navas produced a brilliant save to deny though the goalkeeper reacted well to tip you will know very soon,” Wenger told Stoke’s Phil Bardsley was sent off in Inaki Williams, veteran striker Aritz the shot away to safety. reporters after Arsenal’s fourth loss in stoppage time for a second bookable Aduriz headed the home side level from Ronaldo had a frustrating day in front fi ve Premier League games. off ence. close range in the 65th minute. of goal, fi rst having a strike ruled out for Wenger, Arsenal’s manager since Chelsea provisionally moved 13 Casemiro restored Real’s lead in the off side and then seeing a hooked eff ort 1996, is under heavy pressure, after his points clear of Tottenham Hotspur 68th, however, by controlling Ronaldo’s turned away by Athletic goalkeeper Kepa team were thrashed 10-2 on aggregate and Manchester City ahead of today’s fl icked header from a corner and calmly Arrizabalaga, yet he played a crucial role by Bayern Munich in the Champions games. Second-place Tottenham host taking his time to tuck the ball into the in Real breaking the deadlock. League and fell fi ve points off the top Southampton, while City, level on net from close range, thanks to some The Portuguese latched onto Casem- four in the Premier League. points with Spurs, entertain Liver- careless defending. iro’s lofted pass and generously squared Gary Cahill’s 87th-minute win- pool, who trail Pep Guardiola’s side by Real lead La Liga on 65 points, fi ve to Benzema, who added to his two goals ner earned leaders Chelsea a 2-1 win a point. clear of second-placed Barcelona, who at San Mames in last year’s 2-1 win by at Stoke City that sent them 13 points A day after being drawn against have also played 27 games and host Va- meeting the bouncing pass fi rst time and clear, while champions Leicester City’s Atletico Madrid in the Champions lencia today. sending the ball into the far corner. resurgence continued with a 3-2 vic- League quarter-fi nals, Leicester won tory at West Ham United. 3-2 at West Ham to record a fourth Craig Dawson scored two headers straight win since Craig Shakespeare at The Hawthorns as West Brom con- succeeded Claudio Ranieri as man- demned Arsenal to a sixth defeat in ager. nine games in all competitions. Leicester led 2-0 inside seven min- Dawson’s 12th-minute opener was utes, Riyad Mahrez’s cross from the right curling straight in before Robert Huth headed in a cross from Marc Al- Results West Bromwich Albion’s Craig Dawson scores his team’s third goal against brighton. Arsenal yesterday. Manuel Lanzini’s 20th-minute free- Crystal Palace 1 (Deeney 68-og) Watford 0 kick reduced the arrears before Jamie Everton 4 (Calvert-Lewin 9, Valencia 78, cancelled out by Alexis Sanchez, but “We lose game after game at the Vardy smashed in Leicester’s third. Lukaku 90+1, 90+4) Hull 0 substitute Hal Robson-Kanu restored moment and that for me is much more Despite Andre Ayew reducing the Stoke 1 (Walters 38-pen) chelsea 2 (Willian the hosts’ lead before Dawson headed important than my future.” arrears, the visitors held on to pull six 13, Cahill 87) in his second goal with 15 minutes to Arsenal also lost goalkeeper Petr points clear of the bottom three. Sunderland 0 Burnley 0 play. Cech to a muscular problem and Everton drew level on points with West Brom 3 (Dawson 12, 75, Robson- “You will see,” Wenger added on the Wenger revealed talisman Sanchez had fi fth-place Arsenal, albeit having Kanu 55) Arsenal 1 (Sanchez 15) subject of his future. “Today I do not sustained an ankle injury that “doesn’t played two more games, after Romelu West Ham 2 (Lanzini 20, Ayew 63) Leices- necessarily worry about that. We are look good”. Lukaku scored his 20th and 21st goals ter 3 (Mahrez 5, Huth 7, Vardy 38) in a unique bad patch we never had in Chelsea were missing Eden Hazard of the campaign in a 4-0 home win 20 years. at Stoke’s Bet365 Stadium due to what over Hull City. QATAR AT SPECIAL WINTER GAMES Real Madrid’s Brazilian midfielder Carlos Henrique Casemiro (R) celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal against Athletic Club Bilbao in Bilbao yesterday. BASKETBALL Gharafa thrash Al Khor in opener By Sports Reporter who could only manage 36. Doha Gary Layton ploughed a lone furrow for with 21 points for Al Khor while no other played managed a double digit score. aad Abdulrahman scored a The second match of the day, however, match-high 23 points and was closely fought with Al Wakrah edg- Michael Taylor and Sammy ing out Al Shamal 98-91. SMonroe contributed 21 each as It was a tense aff air throughout, before Al Gharafa thrashed Al Khor, 106-47, on Al Wakrah put on a much improved dis- the opening day of the Qatar Cup bas- play in the fourth quarter during which ketball tournament yesterday. they scored 33 points to clinch the issue. In a hopelessly one-sided match, Al Thomas Blair was the top scorer for Al Team Qatar began its campaign in the 11th Special World Winter Games in Austria yesterday. The Gharafa raced to a 30-13 lead in the fi rst Wakrah with 37 points, 12 of which came prestigious games are bringing together 3,000 athletes from 110 countries, including 15 Arab countries, quarter and never looked back, consoli- from three-pointers, while Ayeni Ola- namely Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, dating every minute to put the match be- tokunbo had 32. Egypt, Morocco and Syria. The Qatari delegation will participate in the games, which will be held in yond Al Khor’s reach by the time it was at For Al Shamal, Mohamed Harat scored four Austrian cities: Graz, Schladming, Ramsau, and Rohrmoos. Qatar will take part in speed skating the halfway stage. 36, while Saleh Ali and Nikola Vasojevic competitions in the city of Graz, and snowboarding in Ramsau. The delegation is headed by Executive In fact matters got so ridiculous that chipped in with 21 and 17, respectively. Director of Qatar Special Olympics Amir al-Mulla along with Sarah al-Dosari. Al Gharafa had 86 points after the third Today, Al Ahli play Qatar Sports Club at quarter, a whopping 50 ahead of Al Khor, 5pm, while Al Sadd meet Al Arabi at 7pm Gulf Times 2 Sunday, March 19, 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW CONFLICT Pro and anti-Wenger Guardiola on banners on display ropes as Liverpool come swinging ‘Klopp is a top coach. It’s an attacking side: win the ball and attack. He likes to attack in Arsenal fans hold up anti-Arsene Wenger signs yesterday. four, five, six seconds all the time. He’s a top trainer. I respect (him) a lot’ AFP fans after Arsenal were humili- West Bromwich ated 10-2 on aggregate by Bay- ern Munich in the Champions League and dropped out of the ival groups of Arse- Premier League top four.