e_Paper, Sunday, April 16, 2017

20
SUNDAY, APRIL 16, 2017
DT
Sports
Sensational
Isco spares
Real Madrid's
blushes against
Sporting
• Reuters, Madrid
Isco's brilliant double helped a
much-changed Real Madrid side
snatch a 3-2 win at Sporting Gijon
yesterday to move six points clear
of title rival Barcelona at the top of
La Liga.
Madrid twice came from behind
before Isco's low drive in the 90th
minute handed Los Blancos victory
against their exhausted host, who
had faced waves of attacks.
Sporting opened the scoring in
the 14th minute when Mikel Vesga
scooped a pass over Madrid's
defence which Duje Cop slammed
home, before Isco equalised three
minutes later with a brilliant individual
goal.
Vesga looped a header over Kiko
Casilla to put the hosts back in
front after halftime, but Alvaro Morata
equalised with a headed goal
of his own, before Spanish midfielder
Isco's late winner.
Barca could trim the lead when
they take on Real Sociedad at home
later yesterday. •
Real Madrid's Isco controls the ball next to Sporting Gijon's Fernando Amorebieta (L) during their La Liga match in Gijon yesterday. Real won 3-2
Tottenham keep up Chelsea
chase with 4-0 rout
• Reuters
Tottenham Hotspur’s tenacious
chase of leaders Chelsea continued
as they claimed a 12th consecutive
Premier League home win with a
4-0 rout of Bournemouth yesterday
to cut the gap to four points.
Two goals in three minutes
from Mousa Dembele and Son Heung-min
put the hosts in complete
control inside 20 minutes and Harry
Kane grabbed his 20th league
goal of the season shortly after
halftime as high-flying Spurs maintained
their momentum.
Substitute Vincent Janssen received
the biggest roar of the day
in stoppage time as he claimed his
first Premier Leasgue goal from
open play since joining last year.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side will
now hope fifth-placed Manchester
United can do them a favour by
stopping Chelsea’s seemingly unstoppable
title charge at Old Trafford
today.
“It was another great performance,”
Pochettino, whose side
won 4-0 for the second Saturday
running and now have six-goal better
goal difference than Chelsea,
told Sky Sports.
RESULTS
Tottenham 4-0 Bournemouth
Dembele 16, Son 19,
Kane 48, Janssen 90+2
Palace 2-2 Leicester
Cabaye 54, Benteke 70 Huth 6, Vardy 52
Everton 3-1 Burnley
Jagielka 49, Mee 71-og, Vokes 52-P
Lukaku 74
Stoke 3-1 Hull
Arnautovic 6, Maguire 51
Crouch 66, Shaqiri 80
Sunderland 2-2 West Ham
Khazri 26, Borini 90 Ayew 5, Collins 47
Watford 1-0 Swansea
Capoue 42
“Our job is done now, we have
the three points and now we’ll see
what happens [today]. If (Chelsea)
fail we are waiting.”
Dembele struck his first Premier
League goal for 15 months after 16
minutes, slamming in a shot from
six metres after Christian Eriksen’s
corner arrived through a crowd of
players.
In-form Son fired through the
legs of keeper Artur Boruc from
a narrow angle after racing on to
Kane’s deft flick.
Kane, starting for the first time
since injuring his ankle last month,
wrapped up Tottenham’s seventh
successive league win after 48
minutes, turning Simon Francis all
too easily and firing low past Boruc
with his left foot.
It is the third season in a row
England forward Kane has reached
the 20-goal mark - a feat previously
only achieved by Alan Shearer,
Ruud van Nistlerooy and Thierry
Henry.
Boruc made sure the score
did not get too embarrassing for
Bournemouth with several saves
as Tottenham went through their
routines but he was beaten again in
stoppage time.
Janssen, who has struggled
to make an impact at White Hart
Lane, scuffed his first attempt on
goal but got another chance as
the ball came back to him and the
Dutchman fired past Boruc to put
the icing on the cake of a 15th home
league win.
Bournemouth are seven points
above the relegation zone before
the later kickoffs and probably
need one more victory to guarantee
a third season of top-flight football.
•
Jose summons
strength for Blues tie
• AFP, London
Manchester United manager Jose
Mourinho must rally a fatigued and
foundering team this weekend as
he rekindles an increasingly thorny
rivalry with his former club Chelsea,
the Premier League leaders.
United have drawn five of their
last six home games and go into
today’s Old Trafford showdown on
the back of a leggy 1-1 draw at Anderlecht
in the first leg of their Europa
League quarter-final.
They are far from ideal conditions
in which to be preparing an
ambush of the champions-elect,
but despite his protestations that it
is "just one more game", Mourinho
is likely to be highly motivated.
Sacked by Chelsea midway
through last season's car-crash title
defence, he has had two deeply
unpleasant experiences on his two
trips to Stamford Bridge this season.
In October, he saw United
thrashed 4-0 and made a public
show of taking Chelsea manager
Antonio Conte to task over his
touchline exhortations, accusing
the Italian of trying to "humiliate"
him.
February's 1-0 FA Cup defeat
AFP
was a closer affair, but brought
with it barracking from the fans
who had once sung his name.
In response to their taunts of
"Judas!", he raised three fingers -
one for each of the Premier League
titles he won over his two spells as
Chelsea manager.
"When they have somebody
that wins four Premier Leagues for
them, I become number two," he
said after. "Until this moment, 'Judas'
is number one."
Mourinho cannot have enjoyed
watching the players who seemed
to down tools under him thriving
under Conte, as typified by the
form of Eden Hazard.
Hazard, who played like a ghost
under Mourinho last season, will
arrive at Old Trafford seeking to
reach the milestone of 15 goals in a
league campaign for the first time
since he signed from Lille in 2012.
For his part, Conte has sought to
play down any suggestion of tension
between himself and Mourinho.
"I have zero problems (with
Mourinho)," he said. "It's only a
sporting competition between him
and me. "There is a game of football.
I want to try and win with my
team." •