Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2014 Ligue 1 set to resumes after a turbulent week PARIS: Ligue 1 leaders Marseille can put their off-pitch worries aside on Sunday as they carry a slender one point lead into the weekend with a top of the table clash against Bordeaux. During a week that saw the Marseille president Vincent Labrune taken into custody as part of a probe into transfers including star strik- er Andre-Pierre Gignac, French football was struck by a double scandal after match-fixing accusations in Ligue 2 last season. Labrune was taken into custody in Marseille along with the club’s director-general Philippe Perez and former president Pape Diouf. Another former president, Jean-Claude Dassier, was being held in Paris and a total of ten people, including agents and mid- dlemen, were held overnight at the investigators’ headquarters. Dassier and Diouf were released late Wednesday. The investi- gation is looking into “contentious” money transfers “made in recent years”, sources close to the investigation said. A police source spoke of “fraud linked to several transfers”. OM coach Marcelo Bielsa must now keep the focus on the football with second placed Paris Saint-Germain in position to move top of the table on Friday with a trip to ninth-placed Metz. PSG were boosted by the return of superstar striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who came on as a second-half substitute in the 2-0 victory over Marseille in their last outing, and their talisman scored his first goal, since returning from a heel injury, while on international duty for Sweden against Montenegro. Gignac, who is the Ligue 1 second top scorer with 10 goals, has been cleared of any wrong-doing in his 2010 transfer from Toulouse, and played in France’s 1-0 win over Sweden at the Velodrome in midweek. “I can tell you that he hasn’t really been UYO: South African defender Eric Mathoho (left) tries to stop Nigerian attacker Ahmed Musa during the 2015 affected,” French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet Africa Cup of Nations qualifying football match between Nigeria and South Africa at Akwa Ibom stadium in said this week. “He is innocent in this affair.” he added. Nimes Uyo, Nigeria, on November 19, 2014. —AFP have been targeted as the main culprits at the heart of a match- fixing probe in Ligue 2 with relegation battles against Dijon, Angers and Caen last season, called into question. Defending champ Nigeria Third-placed Lyon can also move ahead of Marseille tomor- row as they take a five-match winning streak to Corsica and a Saturday afternoon fixture against sixth-from-bottom Bastia. misses out on African Cup Alexandre Lacazette has been the star man for Hubert Fournier’s seven-time champions and went ahead of Gignac in the scoring charts last weekend with his 11th goal during the 3-1 home win CAPE TOWN: Holders Nigeria were bundled out of the African booked their places at the tournament in Equatorial Guinea. over relegation-threatened Brittany side Guingamp. Sunday’s Nations Cup qualifiers on Wednesday as the final six places for Nigeria had to beat Group A winners South Africa in their the 2015 finals were decided. Congo, the Democratic Republic last qualifier at their new stadium in Uyo to stand a chance of slate of three matches includes a key tie at La Beaujoire stadium of Congo, Ghana, Guinea, the Ivory Coast and Mali all made defending their title at the Jan. 17 to Feb. 8 continental cham- where fifth placed Nantes host a Saint-Etienne side who are just certain of their spots and join the 10 countries who had already pionship. They were 2-0 down shortly after halftime, however, a point behind the Canaries going into the weekend. after quick goals either side of the interval from striker Tokelo Montpellier host Toulouse in a battle of southern clubs in the Rantie. Nigeria pulled one back from Sone Aluko with 22 min- penultimate match on the weekend schedule while there are four Injury-plagued Man utes remaining and the Hull City striker then equalized deep other matches tomorrow evening. Basement dwellers Lorient into stoppage time against opponents, who had been reduced await second from bottom Lens in a crucial battle at the wrong United face tough to 10 men for the last 19 minutes. end of the table while Rennes travel to Guingamp, Monaco are at Congo finished second behind South Africa after a 1-0 win home to Caen and Nice and Reims meet on the Cote d’Azur. Lille’s trip to Arsenal in Sudan, where Francis Ndanga’s second-half free kick ensured home match against Evian has been postponed until January 7 that veteran coach Claude Le Roy will go to a record-extending because of France taking on Switzerland in the tennis Davis Cup LONDON: Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal eighth tournament. Guinea beat Uganda 2-0 in Casablanca to final which runs from Friday to Sunday. —AFP will delve into the depths of his squad for the visit to finish second in Group E behind Ghana, who topped the stand- Arsenal in the Premier League tomorrow, as an injury cri- ings after a 3-1 home win over Togo. Guinea had to move their sis engulfs Old Trafford. So often it has been Arsene match to a neutral venue because of a ban on playing at home French League table Wenger cursing his luck after key players have been where the deadly Ebola virus has claimed more than 1,000 crocked ahead of big matches but this time it is United lives. The game was held in Morocco, who were stripped of PARIS: French league table ahead of the weekend’s matches who could be missing up to 12 squad players, including hosting the tournament last week after asking for a postpone- (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): goalkeeper David De Gea, at the Emirates Stadium. ment amid fears that fans travelling to the finals could spread Marseille 13 9 1 3 27 12 28 the virus to their country. United are exposed at the back, and with four first- Paris SG 13 7 6 0 25 8 27 team defenders possibly missing, Dutchman Van Gaal Mali ended Algeria’s 100 percent record in Group B to book Lyon 13 8 2 3 27 11 26 might have to call up teenagers Patrick McNair and Tyler their place with Seydou Keita scoring a first-half penalty and Bordeaux 13 7 3 3 20 15 24 Blackett to keep former team mate Danny Welbeck at Mustapha Yatabare adding a second after the break in a 2-0 bay. England striker Welbeck has been in fine form since win in Bamako. Ivory Coast needed only to draw with already- Nantes 13 6 5 2 13 9 23 his 16 million pounds ($25.06 million) move to Arsenal in qualified Cameroon and squeezed through in a goalless clash Saint-Etienne 13 6 4 3 13 12 22 September, scoring 10 goals for club and country. against a side reduced to 10 men for the last half-hour after Monaco 13 5 4 4 15 14 19 Arsenal suffered two disappointing results before the captain Stephane Mbia was sent off. The top two teams in each Rennes 13 5 4 4 15 14 19 international break, letting leads slip to draw 3-3 at of the seven groups qualified plus the best third-placed finish- Metz 13 5 3 5 13 15 18 home to Anderlecht in the Champions League and er, which was the Democratic Republic of Congo. Two goals Reims 13 5 3 5 14 21 18 going down 2-1 at Swansea City in the league. from Yannick Bolasie in a 3-1 home win over Sierra Leone Toulouse 13 5 2 6 17 17 17 “We have two games against Manchester United and helped them to nine points from their six matches, but they Nice 13 5 2 6 17 19 17 Borussia Dortmund at home and if we get the crowd had to wait several hours for their place to be confirmed. Montpellier 13 5 2 6 11 13 17 with us from the start, and get the results, then it will be Record winners Egypt could have snatched their spot had Lille 13 4 4 5 9 12 16 they won by two goals away in Tunisia, but they fell to a 2-1 a very different story again,” Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta Bastia 13 3 4 6 11 17 13 said. Arsenal are currently sixth in the table with 17 defeat despite leading 1-0 at halftime. Algeria and the Cape Evian 13 4 1 8 12 22 13 points; United a place behind with one point fewer. Verde Islands qualified after just four group matches last Leaders Chelsea host West Bromwich Albion earlier month and were joined after the weekend’s penultimate round Caen 13 3 3 7 15 17 12 tomorrow looking to extend their four-point lead on sec- by Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Senegal, South Africa, Guingamp 13 4 0 9 10 24 12 ond-placed Southampton, who visit Aston Villa on Tunisia and Zambia. New hosts Equatorial Guinea, disqualified Lens 13 3 2 8 12 17 11 Monday.—Reuters in the preliminary knockout rounds for fielding an illegible Lorient 13 3 1 9 10 17 10 player, have also been handed a place at the finals. —Reuters.