CRUNCH

CITYAM.COM TUESDAY 4 APRIL 2017 SPORT 29
FOOTBALL
Conte’s mistake has given Spurs
fresh hope of catching Chelsea
FOOTBALL
COMMENT
Trevor
Steven
ANTONIO Conte has made
few mistakes in his first
year at Chelsea, but something
he said in the aftermath
of last month’s win
at Stoke may have sown the seeds of
Saturday’s home defeat by Crystal
Palace.
Ten points clear with 10 games to
play and seemingly bound for the Premier
League title, Conte spoke for the
first time about the number of points
his team needed to clinch the trophy.
I think the Italian was wrong to do
that. The target should only ever be
the next match, and it hinted at a
lapse in focus that came home to
roost when the Eagles visited Stamford
Bridge at the weekend.
Now we have a title race again.
When you can see the finishing line,
sometimes it can work against you. It
can breed a little bit of complacency
in teams, even if only on a subconscious
level.
I see a lot of parallels with the 1985-
86 season, when our Everton side led
Liverpool by eight points in early
March but wobbled slightly. In the
end a Kenny Dalglish goal at
Chelsea on the final Saturday
of the season swung it Liverpool’s
way.
Chelsea’s lead is now
down to seven points
and it feels like a
self-inflicted
wound. The
Palace game
was one they
should have
won, but when
they were asked
the question they
faltered.
MOMENTUM
Tottenham, mean-
RUGBY UNION
Wasps prove Aviva’s status as English bogey ground
The Dublin Grand
Slam graveyard
was the ace up
Leinster’s sleeve,
writes Bob Baker
THE FIRST half of Saturday’s
European Champions Cup
quarter-final at Dublin’s Aviva
Stadium saw Wasps caught like
rabbits in the headlights of Leinster’s
express locomotive, before being
struck 32-17.
It is relatively inexplicable how a
location can do so much to favour or
work against a team, but credence
must be given to the role that
Ireland’s home ground played only a
while, aren’t faltering at all, and momentum
is everything at this time of
the season.
Spurs look like they they’ll win
every time they take to the field at
the moment. They’re the only
team in the chasing pack with the
necessary grit to catch Chelsea –
and who seem to believe it
can be done.
They have kept their
winning run going despite
the injury to
Harry Kane, which
has proven to them
that their form
and conviction is
not dependent on
Conte (left) saw his
Chelsea side lose at
home to Palace (above)
fortnight after England’s Grand Slam
aspirations were extinguished on the
same pitch.
Leinster’s Ireland contingent
would have drawn confidence
from their recent experience
while the likes of Joe
Launchbury, Elliot Daly,
James Haskell and
Nathan Hughes
returned to the scene of
severe disappointment.
With Wasps finding
themselves on the
receiving end of an
unrelenting opening
barrage, the men from
Leinster ensured that any hopes
of an English club creating a
memory worthy of scrap-book
inclusion were snuffed out.
There was a sense that it was not
going to be Wasps’ day, a sense that
one player, even if he is their top
scorer.
Tottenham look better equipped to
go the distance this season, having ultimately
failed to sustain their pursuit
of Leicester in the final weeks of last
term.
They have more experience as a result
of that campaign, and they also
have more depth to their squad, with
fringe players such as Heung-Min Son
showing they have the right mentality
to come in and do a job.
PIVOTAL
Chelsea now face a pivotal spell, starting
with the visit of Manchester City
on Wednesday, and I fully expect
them to drop more points during the
next three games.
While they also have to go to Manchester
United later this month, Spurs
Danny Cipriani was one
of the Wasps stars to
struggle in Dublin
the men in black and gold
unfortunately seemed to have
bought into relatively early in
proceedings.
A number of champagne
players including Danny
Cipriani resembled a
sickly prosecco,
justifying their noninclusion
in the
national squad and
similarly their likely
omission from a tour with the
British and Irish Lions this summer.
Wasps’ best performers were those
with no meaningful negative
associations between place and past
performance.
have a trio of winnable games ahead
against Swansea, Watford and
Bournemouth.
City remain a work in progress and
defensively suspect but they have
enough threat to pose problems for
Conte’s men and they’ll be desperate
for all three points, having only drawn
at Arsenal on Sunday.
Chelsea really need to win to steady
the ship; if they were to lose two fixtures
at Stamford Bridge in the space
of five days they could be completely
punctured. How they respond will tell
us an awful lot about them. But if I
was betting man, with the odds as
they are, I’d be more inclined to take
a punt on Tottenham.
Trevor Steven is a former England footballer
who has played at two World Cups
and two European Championships.
@TrevorSteven63
Kurtley Beale was phenomenal,
and for all of the Wallabies’ trips to
Ireland, Australian Beale has only
been involved once, and in only a
bench-warming capacity at that.
Hooker Tommy Taylor, who
travelled as a reserve with England,
tackled admirably and toiled with
vigour while Jimmy Gopperth, who
himself used to wear the colours of
Leinster, executed a fine individual
try, reaching behind his head to dot
down from the unorthodox inverted
turtle position.
The arena will face a stern test
later this month when Saracens take
on Munster in the Champions Cup
semi-final. For now, Dublin’s Aviva
continues to commendably serve its
purpose for both province and
country in being the bogiest of
grounds for its Anglo-Saxon visitors.
@bobbaker1989
RESULTS
FOOTBALL
VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE
Lincoln City ...........(0) 2 Dag & Red ..................(0) 0
Whitehouse 47
Rhead 68 Att: 7,173
P W D L F A GD Pts
Lincoln City ...................39 25 7 7 74 36 38 82
Tranmere ........................39 24 7 8 58 32 26 79
Forest Green ................40 22 9 9 80 50 30 75
Dag & Red .....................41 23 4 14 68 48 20 73
Aldershot .......................41 20 11 10 57 34 23 71
Dover ................................40 21 6 13 74 60 14 69
Barrow ............................41 18 14 9 62 43 19 68
Gateshead .....................41 18 13 10 66 42 24 67
Macclesfld .....................38 18 6 14 54 44 10 60
Wrexham .......................41 14 12 15 39 51 -12 54
Eastleigh ........................41 13 14 14 52 56 -4 53
Boreham Wood ..........41 13 13 15 42 38 4 52
Chester FC ....................40 14 10 16 59 56 3 52
Sutton Utd ....................40 13 10 17 47 54 -7 49
Guiseley ..........................41 13 10 18 47 60 -13 49
Bromley ..........................40 14 7 19 45 61 -16 49
Solihull Moors .............41 13 9 19 55 62 -7 48
Maidstone Utd ............39 13 8 18 51 67 -16 47
Braintree Town ...........41 12 9 20 47 67 -20 45
Woking ............................41 12 8 21 58 74 -16 44
Torquay ...........................41 11 10 20 45 56 -11 43
York...................................40 9 15 16 47 61 -14 42
N Ferriby Utd ...............41 11 3 27 27 69 -42 36
Southport ......................40 9 7 24 45 85 -40 34
CRICKET
MCC UNIVERSITY MATCHES—Lancashire v
Cambridge MCCU (Fenner’s): Lancashire 338-6dec. (88.0
overs; A L Davies 80, S J Croft 78, J Clark 64, D J Vilas 58)
and 120-7dec. (32.0 overs; A L Davies 50no; A P Barton
5-31). Cambridge MCCU 62 (43.0 overs; J M Anderson
5-10) and 56 (37.4 overs). .
MCC UNIVERSITY MATCHES—Essex v Durham MCCU
(Chelmsford): Essex 333 (85.4 overs; A J Wheater 102, N L
J Browne 66, A P Beard 58no). and 203-2 (42.0 overs; N L
J Browne 113no) Durham MCCU 187 (76.1 overs; J A
Porter 4-35).
MCC UNIVERSITY MATCHES—Hampshire v Cardiff
MCCU (The Ageas Bowl): Hampshire 289 (63.3 overs; M
A Carberry 100, S M Ervine 58). and 271-6 (66.0 overs; J
M Vince 90, T P Alsop 62) Cardiff MCCU 98 (36.3 overs).
MCC UNIVERSITY MATCHES—Northamptonshire v
Loughborough MCCU (Northampton): Northamptonshire
435-6dec. (83.0 overs; R I Newton 166, A M Rossington
117, J J Cobb 63no). Loughborough MCCU 468-7 (116.0
overs; N R Kumar 141, C O Thurston 126, S T Evans 69no, R
G White 69, Saif Zaib 4-110).
MCC UNIVERSITY MATCHES—Warwickshire v Oxford
MCCU (The Parks): Warwickshire 285-4dec. (86.0 overs;
I J L Trott 130, W T S Porterfield 89). and 109-1 (37.0
overs) Oxford MCCU 215 (67.4 overs).
MCC UNIVERSITY MATCHES—Leeds/Bradford MCCU
v Yorkshire (Headingley Carnegie): Leeds/Bradford
MCCU 137 (64.1 overs). and 40-0 (11.0 overs) Yorkshire
543-5dec. (120.0 overs; A Lyth 194, A Z Lees 100, G S
Ballance 72, J A Leaning 64no).
NETBALL
VITALITY SUPERLGE: Celtic Dragons 45 Loughborough
Lightning 65, Manchester Thunder 59 Hertfordshire 50.
SPEEDWAY
SGB Premiership: Wolverhampton 45 Leicester 44
TENNIS
WTA TOUR FAMILY CIRCLE CUP (Charleston, South
Carolina, USA)—Women’s Singles 1st rnd: N Osaka (Jpn)
bt J Larsson (Swe) 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-2, K Bondarenko (Ukr)
bt E Rodina (Rus) 6-4 7-5, J Ostapenko (Lat) bt A Bogdan
(Rom) 6-4 6-2, A Petkovic (Ger) bt L Arruabarrena (Spa)
7-5 6-2, O Jabeur (Tun) bt M Erakovic (Nzl) 6-4 6-1,M Puig
(Pur) bt (16) K Siniakova (Cze) 4-6 6-2 4-1 ret, A Riske
(USA) bt K Day (USA) 7-5 4-6 6-0.
WTA ABIERTO GNP SEGUROS (Monterrey, Mexico)—
Women’s Singles 1st rnd: D Vekic (Cro) leads P Maria Tig
(Rom) 6-4 5-1, J Boserup (USA) bt N Hibino (Jpn) 6-0 6-2,
R Zarazua (Mex) leads (3) C Garcia (Fra) 6-4 1-2, N Broady
(Gbr) bt C Cartan Bellis (USA) 7-6 (9-7) 6-4.
TODAY’S DIARY
(7.45pm unless stated)
Premier League
Burnley v Stoke ..................................................................................................
Leicester v Sunderland....................................................................................
Man Utd v Everton (8pm) ..............................................................................
Watford v West Brom .....................................................................................
Sky Bet Championship
Aston Villa v QPR ..............................................................................................
Barnsley v Cardiff .............................................................................................
Brentford v Leeds ..............................................................................................
Brighton v Birmingham ...................................................................................
Derby v Fulham ...................................................................................................
Ipswich v Wigan ................................................................................................
Preston North End v Bristol City ................................................................
Reading v Blackburn (8pm) ..........................................................................
Rotherham v Sheffield Wednesday ...........................................................
Wolverhampton v Nottingham Forest ......................................................
Sky Bet League One
Charlton v Milton Keynes Dons ...................................................................
Rochdale v Port Vale ........................................................................................
Shrewsbury v Millwall .....................................................................................
Southend v Bolton ............................................................................................
Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership
Aberdeen v Inverness CT ...............................................................................
Ross County v Dundee .....................................................................................
Ladbrokes Scottish League One
Albion v Queen’s Park ......................................................................................
Vanarama National League: Southport v Macclesfield,
Tranmere v Sutton Utd, York v Bromley.
Vanarama National League North: Alfreton Tn v
Stalybridge, Brackley v FC Halifax, Nuneaton v Gloucester.
Vanarama National League South: Poole Tn v
Hungerford Tn.
CRICKET
First Twenty20 International: Sri Lanka v Bangladesh
(Colombo, 2.30).
TENNIS
WTA Abierto GNP Seguros (Monterrey, Mexico).
WTA Tour Family Circle Cup (Charleston, South Carolina,
United States of America).