Dhawan ton Draw woes sparks India continue rout18 of S Africa for19 Roma MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Jayawardene century saves face for Sri Lanka Page 17

SOUTHAMPTON: Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling (centre) competes for the ball with Southampton’s Maya Yoshida (right) during the English soccer match. — AP Coutinho rocket sinks Saints

game without finding the net. side of Emre Can, and he then saw an even The result prevented Southampton from stronger claim waved away. EPL results/standings Southampton 0 overtaking fourth-place Manchester United, He was sent sprawling by a sliding chal- who they trail by a point, and Liverpool are lenge from Joe Allen, but Friend allowed play Everton 2 (Naismith 57, Upson 89-og) Leicester 2 (Nugent 63, Cambiasso 70); now just a point further back after extending to continue and Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Southampton 0 Liverpool 2 (Coutinho 3, Sterling 73); Tottenham 2 (Rose 81, Kane 90-pen) West Ham 2 (Kouyate 22, Sakho 62). their unbeaten run to 10 league games. Mignolet had to block from Eljero Elia. English Premier League table after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals Liverpool 2 ’s in-form side are now The official further angered the home sup- against, points): within touching distance of the Champions port when he failed to penalise Can for up- Chelsea 26 18 6 2 56 22 60 Newcastle 26 8 8 10 31 42 32 League berths ahead of a pivotal week that ending on the Southampton Man City 26 16 7 3 56 25 55 Everton 26 6 10 10 33 37 28 sees them take a 1-0 lead to Besiktas in the right, but he also allowed Jose Fonte to get Arsenal 26 14 6 6 49 29 48 Crystal Palace 26 6 9 11 28 37 27 SOUTHAMPTON: Philippe Coutinho scored a Europa League before welcoming champions away with a full-blooded sliding block on Man Utd 26 13 8 5 44 26 47 West Brom 26 6 9 11 24 34 27 magnificent goal as Liverpool overcame Manchester City to next weekend. Sterling inside the hosts’ area. Southampton 26 14 4 8 38 19 46 Hull 26 6 8 12 25 35 26 Southampton 2-0 in a controversial game yes- , who replaced the injured There were also roars of disapproval when Liverpool 26 13 6 7 38 29 45 Sunderland 26 4 13 9 22 36 25 terday to close to within two points of the Mamadou Sakho, and former Southampton Mignolet raced from his box to repel an Tottenham 26 13 5 8 41 36 44 QPR 26 6 4 16 27 45 22 Premier League’s top four. captain Adam Lallana were both booed on attempted lob from Elia, but replays showed West Ham 26 10 9 7 38 30 39 Burnley 26 4 10 12 25 44 22 Swansea 26 10 7 9 30 34 37 Aston Villa 26 5 7 14 13 36 22 Coutinho opened the scoring with a stun- their returns to St Mary’s, but Coutinho sliced the ball had struck the goalkeeper’s chest and Stoke 26 10 6 10 30 34 36 Leicester 26 4 6 16 24 42 18 ning 30-yard effort in the third minute and through the home fans’ jeers with a sensation- then ricocheted against his arm. Moments Raheem Sterling added a second goal al early goal. before half-time, amid pandaemonium in the towards the end, but it was the performance Collecting the ball 30 yards from goal, the Liverpool box, Mignolet parried from Djuricic. Skrtel produced a good block to thwart Mane third goal in five games and validated of referee Kevin Friend that was to prove the Brazilian midfielder shifted it onto his right Both sides made changes at the break, as Southampton pushed for an equaliser, but Rodgers’s decision to select the England for- biggest talking point on a cold, squally foot and let fly with a glorious, dipping shot Southampton sending on the fit-again with 17 minutes to play, Liverpool’s killer sec- ward instead of of Mario Balotelli, who evening at St Mary’s. towards the top-left corner that cannoned and Liverpool introduc- ond arrived. Slipping on the greasy pitch, Matt remained on the bench. The official turned down two strong penal- into the net via the crossbar. By then, Filip ing Alberto Moreno for Lazar Markovic, while Targett could only steer Moreno’s left-wing Thereafter, Mignolet saved a skidding free- ty appeals from Southampton and was bar- Djuricic, making his first Southampton start, Sadio Mane entered the fray for the hosts cross as far as Sterling, who slammed home kick from substitute Dusan Tadic and an over- racked by their supporters throughout, as had already had a penalty appeal turned shortly after. before celebrating jubilantly with the fans head kick from Schneiderlin, but the game Ronald Koeman’s side went a third home down when he went down after getting goal- Graziano Pelle dragged wide and Martin behind Fraser Forster’s goal. It was Sterling’s was already up. — AFP Kane’s late leveller caps Upson own goal leaves dramatic Spurs revival Leicester frustrated stay in 12th place after their third consecutive Tottenham did go close to the opener when league game without a win. Kane won a race against James Tomkins for a sim- Everton 2 After their impressive Europa League vic- Tottenham 2 ple ball over the top from Rose. tory at Young Boys on Thursday, Everton were Winston Reid’s challenge forced the Spurs for- short of energy and inspiration for long peri- ward to improvise a poke with his studs rather ods. than a clean strike, but the ball still beat Adrian Andrej Kramaric came close to punishing only to clip the outside of the base of a post and Leicester 2 Everton for their lethargy when the Leicester West Ham 2 spin to safety. But West Ham also looked danger- striker curled his shot just over Howard’s goal. ous and Sakho alertly nipped in between Hugo John Stones then put in a last-ditch block Lloris and Eric Dier as the ball bounced between to deny Jeff Schlupp in first half stoppage- them and headed goalwards. LIVERPOOL: Leicester wasted a golden time as the visitors pressed for the opener. LONDON: Harry Kane wrote another chapter in Fortunately for the home side, Jan Vertonghen chance to boost their hopes of avoiding his storybook season as the Tottenham striker res- was on hand to clear, but there was no salvation LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane Premier League relegation as Matthew Just two minutes after the break, Howard parried Matty James’ shot and Schlupp cued a 2-2 draw with the last kick of a pulsating for Spurs after 22 minutes as West Ham went (bottom) wins a penalty by West Ham Upson’s own goal allowed Everton to salvage dragged the follow-up wide. London derby against West Ham yesterday. ahead. Tottenham failed to clear a West Ham United’s Alex Song (top) during an English a 2-2 draw yesterday. Nigel Pearson’s side were on course for But Everton went ahead in the 57th Mauricio Pochettino’s team had fallen 2-0 attack but still had plenty of defenders between Premier League soccer match at the White their first win in five league matches thanks minute when Lukaku held the ball up and behind at White Hart Lane as the Hammers struck ball and goal as the ball was worked down the Hart Lane ground. — AP through Cheikhou Kouyate and Diafra Sakho, but left to Aaron Cresswell. But when the left back to a stirring response to Steven Naismith’s passed to Naismith, who squeezed his shot an error by goalkeeper Adrian allowed Danny swung the ball across, Kouyate rose unmarked to and pushed the ball round the post. second half opener for Everton. between Wes Morgan and Robert Huth as Rose to halve the deficit with nine minutes left. head firmly past Lloris. It only delayed the inevitable. In the 62nd Taking advantage of two mistakes from the ball trickled past Leicester goalkeeper And when Kane was fouled in the area by Alex West Ham’s delighted fans were nearly minute Noble crossed from the left, two defend- Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard, the Foxes Mark Schwarzer. Pearson made a double Song deep into second half stoppage-time, he silenced four minutes later as Kane chipped the ers went with Valencia, and Sakho stole in unno- equalised through David Nugent and then change, bringing Nugent and Jamie Vardy kept his composure to smash in the rebound after ball forward for Rose, who beat Adrian’s punch to ticed at the far post to touch the ball back across took the lead via a rare Esteban Cambiasso on, and just minutes later the pair combined his spot-kick was saved. the ball only for his header to drop onto the roof Lloris and in. Spurs then brought on Roberto goal. to equalise. It was a welcome point in the end for the of the empty net. But West Ham continued to Soldado but even though that pushed Kane into But former England defender Upson inad- Vardy pulled away down the right and home side but really they needed to win to put pose problems. Lloris had to rush from his goal to a supporting role, he still looked Tottenham’s vertently denied his side a valuable victory drove a low cross goalwards which Howard pressure on Southampton and Liverpool before block a shot from after the forward most dangerous player, and he thought he had when he dived to head a Christian Atsu cross spilled straight into the path of Nugent, who their two rivals for fourth place meet at St Mary’s had got the better of Rose. halved the arrears when scoring at the second clear but instead diverted Romelu Lukaku’s tapped in for the 63rd minute leveller. later on Sunday. West Ham should have gone 2-0 ahead after attempt, only to be flagged offside. flick into his own net in the final moments at Lukaku should have put Everton back in So a limp first half display was a surprise, espe- 59 minutes when Mark Noble’s pass sent Sakho Tottenham’s lifeline arrived in the 81st minute Goodison Park. front when he barged through the Leicester cially in a local derby that went the way of the vis- through with only Lloris to beat, but the goal- and owed more to Adrian, the West Ham goal- The draw left Leicester bottom of the table defence, but the Belgian forward contrived to itors twice last season. keeper anticipated the forward’s shot to his left keeper, than any attacking skill. — AFP and four points from safety, while Everton shoot over from 10 yards. — AFP