SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2014 SPORTS

EPL results/standings

Aston Villa 1 (Benteke 18) Manchester United 1 (Falcao 53); Hull 0 Swansea 1 (Ki 15); Manchester City 3 (Silva 49, 61, Toure 81) Crystal Palace 0; QPR 3 (Austin 24-pen, 48, 86) West Brom 2 (Lescott 10, Varela 20); Southampton 3 (Lukaku 38-og, Pelle 65, Yoshida 82) Everton 0; Tottenham 2 (Kane 21, Lamela 35) Burnley 1 (Barnes 27); West Ham 2 (Carroll 24, Downing 56) Leicester 0.

Playing today Newcastle v Sunderland, Liverpool v Arsenal

Playing tomorrow Stoke v Chelsea

English Premier League table after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):

Chelsea 16 12 3 1 36 13 39 Liverpool 16 6 3 7 19 22 21 Man City 17 12 3 2 36 14 39 Aston Villa 17 5 5 7 11 21 20 Man Utd 17 9 5 3 30 18 32 Stoke 16 5 4 7 18 21 19 West Ham 17 9 4 4 29 19 31 West Brom 17 4 5 8 17 23 17 Southampton 17 9 2 6 28 13 29 QPR 17 5 2 10 20 32 17 Tottenham 17 8 3 6 22 23 27 Sunderland16 2 10 4 14 24 16 Arsenal 16 7 5 4 28 19 26 Crystal Palace17 3 6 8 19 27 15 Swansea 17 7 4 6 22 19 25 Burnley 17 3 6 8 12 26 15 Newcastle 16 6 5 5 18 22 23 Hull 17 2 7 8 15 24 13 Everton 17 5 6 6 27 27 21 Leicester 17 2 4 11 15 29 10 QPR out of drop zone minute opener. It was the former England defender’s QPR 3 first goal for West Brom and his first of any description for over two years. Ten minutes later, Sessegnon created West Brom’s sec- LONDON: Southampton’s Maya Yoshida (second left) beats Everton’s Leighton Baines to score past Everton’s Tim Howard, during their English ond goal by playing a one-two with Varela, Premier League match. —AP West Brom 2 who strode forward and beat Green with a low shot. It had been a dismal start for the home Southampton blank Everton team, but they gave themselves a foothold LONDON: Charlie Austin scored his first in the game in the 24th minute when Premier League hat-trick as Queens Park Austin scored from the spot after James League Cup defeat by the third-tier club. minute opening goal. Rangers escaped the relegation zone by Morrison had been penalised for holding It has been a testing period for the south- Everton had conceded two own goals in their coming from behind to beat West Leroy Fer. QPR received a setback when Southampton 3 coast club and Koeman’s efforts to improve his 2-0 defeat at St Mary’s last season and Lukaku’s Bromwich Albion 3-2 yesterday. they lost left-back Yun Suk-young to injury, side’s fortunes have not been helped by a test- moment of misfortune raised fears of a repeat. West Brom went 2-0 up inside 20 min- with Clint Hill coming on, but Austin con- ing run of injuries and suspensions. Martinez’s side had offered little to suggest utes through Joleon Lescott and Silvestre tinued to probe, testing Ben Foster from 25 With five members of his senior squad miss- they could get back into the game, with a long- Varela, but 25-year-old English striker yards and shooting just over from the edge Everton 0 ing, Koeman handed a first start to 19-year-old range Ross Barkley effort that goalkeeper Fraser Austin scored either side of half-time to of the box. midfielder Harrison Reed and named four Forster fielded comfortably the best they could draw QPR level before heading in an 86th- Sessegnon served a reminder of the visi- teenagers on the bench. muster. minute winner. tors’ threat by drawing another full-length The youthful look to Southampton’s squad, And they were fortunate to reach the interval Austin’s treble took his tally for the sea- stop from Green shortly before half-time, however, appeared to have little effect on trailing by just one goal, with Pelle guilty of fail- son to 11 goals and enabled Harry but three minutes into the second period, SOUTHAMPTON: Southampton drew a line Koeman’s side’s performance. The hosts quickly ing to make more of two good first-half chances. Redknapp’s side to climb to 15th place in Austin netted the equaliser. Richard under a miserable run of five successive defeats unsettled the Everton defence, to the extent that Everton started the second period with more the table-level on points with Alan Irvine’s Dunne’s header came back off the bar, but with an emphatic 3-0 Premier League victory the home supporters were convinced Everton’s purpose, but when they failed to find a way West Brom-ahead of Arsenal’s visit on the recalled Bobby Zamora nodded the over Everton at St Mary’s Stadium yesterday. Sylvain Distin should have been sent off in the through the Southampton defence, Koeman’s Boxing Day. West Brom midfielder rebound across goal for Austin to volley in A first-half own goal from Romelu Lukaku and ninth minute. side once again asserted themselves. Stephane Sessgenon went into the game his second from close range. second-half strikes by Graziano Pelle and Maya The French defender was caught on the They doubled their lead mid-way through the having supplied three assists in his previ- Foster produced a brilliant save to deny Yoshida secured the win that brought relief to wrong side of Shane Long when the striker half when home right-back Nathaniel Clyne ous two appearances and he was just as Austin his hat-trick in the 79th minute, but manager Ronald Koeman. made a darting forward run, but referee Jon once again found space down the flank and influential as the visitors assumed early the former Burnley man would not be Saints’ disastrous recent run had seen them Moss decided there had been no infringement whipped in a telling cross. control at Loftus Road. denied. drop from second place to fifth, and while this despite Long tumbling under Distin’s challenge. Clyne had made life for England left-back After teeing up Craig Gardner, who With four minutes to play, Austin held win did not restore them to the Champions And Long was at the centre of a second con- Leighton Baines extremely uncomfortable and forced Rob Green into a flying save, and off his marker to meet Joey Barton’s right- League places, it revived their unexpected chal- troversial incident that indirectly led to the this time his well-placed cross was met by Long, Brown Ideye, who spooned a shot over the wing corner with a powerful near-post lenge for a top-four spot. For Everton manager opening goal. This time the forward appeared to who rose above the Everton defence at the far crossbar, the Benin midfielder flicked on a header that sent the home fans into rap- Roberto Martinez, however, there were few posi- have been fouled by Phil Jagielka while chal- post. corner for Lescott to head home a 10th- tures.-—AFP tives to be taken from a defeat that left his team lenging for a bouncing ball in the Everton area, The Irishman’s knock-down fell to Pelle and in mid-table after a run of just one win in five but the referee again ignored the home side’s the Italy international showed a goal-scorer’s league games. appeals and instead awarded a corner. instincts to turn quickly and fire the ball past Signs of Koeman’s frustration were evident at That was a let-off for the visitors, but the Howard. Bramall Lane this week when the Dutchman reprieve was short-lived. When Jack Ward- The third goal came in the 82nd minute when found himself in a spat with the Sheffield United Prowse swung in the corner, the ball bounced Japanese centre-back Yoshida headed home bench during Southampton’s embarrassing off Lukaku and past Tim Howard for the 38th- Steven Davis’s left-wing cross. —AFP Korean key to Swansea win

no chance of saving it. The hosts went desperately close to levelling Victory, though, sees Swansea-for whom when Abel Hernandez set up Andrew Hull 0 strangely manager Gary Monk opted to start Robertson-after good work by Gaston Ramirez- with Bafetimbi Gomis up front and not Wilfried but his shot came off the bar. Shelvey was in fine Bony who had scored eight goals in his last 10 form and later in the half he had his face in his games-in a healthy eighth position. hands in frustration when another superb shot Swansea 1 Hull, though, are now winless in 10 games beat McGregor but came back off the bar. and have lost six of their last eight leaving them Shelvey should have scored for Swansea early second from bottom and three points off safety. in the second-half but made a mess of his Swansea took the lead on the quarter hour chance shooting tamely at McGregor when one LONDON: Korean Ki Sung-yueng’s first-half goal mark. Former Liverpool midfielder Shelvey ini- on one with him while up the other end Nikica ended Swansea’s run of two successive defeats tially put his hand up to claim the goal but the Jelavic had an effort saved by Lukasz Fabianski. with a 1-0 win over out of form Hull in their deflection off Ki was too big to allow him to be Hull rode their luck and McGregor was once Premier League clash yesterday. awarded it. It was emblematic of an action- again grateful to the woodwork as Gomis’s shot The goal owed something to good fortune as packed first-half-with Republic of Ireland assis- beat the Scotsman but not the post. The Jonjo Shelvey’s shot took a significant deflection tant coach Roy Keane sitting in the stands-which Frenchman was then replaced almost immedi- off Ki and giving Hull goalkeeper Allan McGregor saw both sides hit the woodwork. ately by Bony. —AFP

UPTON PARK: Leicester City’s Daniel Drinkwater (left) and West Ham United’s Alex Song vie for the ball during the English Premier League match. —AP Downing cracker piles on misery for Leicester

defender Paul Konchesky played an awful backpass almost from his own halfway line, West Ham 2 seemingly blind to the fact Carroll was lurk- ing. Carroll this time kept his nerve to finish off the chance placing the ball beyond Ben Hamer. Hamer’s opposite number Adrian Leicester 0 did well to keep his side ahead when he reacted brilliantly to punch over the bar a shot from Riyad Mahrez. Leicester produced little of note apart LONDON: A stunning goal by Stewart from that looking like a side drained of con- Downing helped in-form West Ham to a 2-0 fidence and it was no surprise when West win over bottom of the table Leicester in Ham doubled their lead in the 56th minute their Premier League clash yesterday with Downing’s stunner. extending the visitors’ winless run to 12 Receiving the ball well outside the games. Downing’s goal-his third in the past penalty area he let rip with a curling left seven games but first at home this season- footed-effort that gave Hamer no chance of along with Andy Carroll’s third of the cam- saving it. paign confirmed the Hammers strong The visitors were having little luck and showing this term and saw them strength- veteran David Nugent, who was passed fit en their hold on fourth place. to play after recovering from a calf injury, The mercurial Carroll struck only min- saw a shot brilliantly saved by Adrian. utes after he had missed an open goal in Adrian was on top form and he again the first-half. The former England striker denied Leicester close to the end, this time was helped on his way as former Hammers saving from Leo Ulloa. —AFP LONDON: Swansea City’s Wayne Routledge (left)vies for the ball with Hull City’s Curtis Davies during the English Premier League soccer match. —AP