e_Paper, Monday, May 8, 2017

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MONDAY, MAY 8, 2017
DT
Sports
Arsenal end United run, Liverpool held
• Reuters, London
Arsenal scored twice in three minutes
through a deflected Granit
Xhaka strike and Danny Welbeck’s
header to claim a deserved 2-0 win
over Manchester United yesterday
and inflict a first Premier League
defeat on the visiting side in 26
games.
The victory at the Emirates Stadium
keeps sixth-placed Arsenal’s
hopes of a top-four finish alive, but
they are six points adrift of Manchester
City, who currently occupy
the final Champions League qualifying
slot, albeit with a game in
hand.
The win also takes Arsenal within
two points of fifth-placed United,
who stay four points behind
City having played the same number
of games as their local rivals.
“Hopefully this result will give
us confidence,” said man-of-thematch
Aaron Ramsey. “I said a
couple of weeks ago we had to win
every match and unfortunately we
didn’t do that against Tottenham
Hotspur (in a 2-0 loss last weekend).
But we will see.”
For all of United manager Jose
Mourinho’s pre-match bluster
about fielding a weakened team,
his only concession to youth in
eight changes from his midweek
Europa League team was 19-yearold
defender Axel Tuanzebe, who
made his Premier League debut.
Everything else was familiar,
with United under orders to produce
the sort of bodies behind the
ball performance that makes them
so hard to beat.
However frustrating the tactics,
there is no doubting their effectiveness
and the first half finished with
Arsenal having spurned a series of
chances and the Emirates again jittery.
Twice United defenders had denied
Welbeck on the six-yard area
while darting runs from the ever
impressive Ramsey almost saw
him get on the end of pinpoint balls
from Aaron Sanchez.
United also had their chances
before the break, with Arsenal
goalkeeper Petr Cech saving from
Anthony Martial.
But after a battling first-half display,
the visiting side were undone
after the interval with Xhaka’s
25-metre shot looping up off Ander
Herrera to catch out United goalkeeper
David de Gea after 54 minutes
and then Welbeck adding a
second against his former side with
a header from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s
cross.
There was no way back for
United and, for once in a troubled
season, the Arsenal fans could relax
and forget the will he-won’t
he concerns about whether manager
Arsene Wenger will renew
his contract. The win could not
have been better timed and was
Wenger’s first over Mourinho in a
league game.
For United, the only realistic
route to Champions League qualification
now lies in winning the
Europa League in which they host
Spaniards Celta Vigo at Old Trafford
in the semi-finals on Thursday
holding a 1-0 win from the first leg.
“Yes is all on the Europa league,”
said Mourinho, “but you cannot
say we did not try to win.”
Earlier, Liverpool were held to
a goalless draw at home by Southampton.
The Reds though have
only themselves to blame as James
Milner missed a penalty in the second
half. •
Real reserves thrash Granada, Barca’s MSN hit 100 mark
• AFP, Madrid
Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez
scored twice as a muchchanged
Real Madrid moved to
within three victories of winning
La Liga with a 4-0 demolition of
Tony Adams’s already-relegated
Granada.
Earlier, Neymar, Lionel Messi
and Luis Suarez were all on target
to take their combined tally for the
RESULTS
Sporting Gijon 1-0 Las Palmas
Carmona 66
Atletico Madrid 1-0 Eibar
Saul Niguez 69
Barcelona 4-1 Villarreal
Neymar 21, Messi 45, 82-P,
Suarez 68 Bakambu 32
Granada 0-4 Real Madrid
Rodriguez 3, 11, Morata 30, 35
Arsenal’s Danny Welbeck heads in his side’s second goal during their Premier League match against Manchester United at
Emirates Stadium yesterday
REUTERS
season to 102 as Barcelona kept
pace at the top with a 4-1 win over
Villarreal. Barca remain top thanks
to their superior head-to-head record
with the two locked on 84
points, but Real have three games
remaining to Barcelona’s two.
Real coach Zinedine Zidane continued
his rotation policy of recent
weeks with nine changes from the
side that beat Atletico Madrid 3-0
in the first leg of their Champions
League semi-final on Tuesday as
hat-trick hero Cristiano Ronaldo
was left out of the squad entirely.
However, it mattered little as
Real maintained their perfect La
Liga record in nine games without
Ronaldo this season. Barely two
minutes had gone when Lucas
Vazquez got in behind the Granada
defence and squared for Rodriguez
to tap home the opener.
The Colombian then powered
EPL
Arsenal 2-0 Man Utd
Xhaka 54, Welbeck 57
Liverpool 0-0 Southampton
home a header from Fabio Coentrao’s
cross just nine minutes later.
Adams made a substitution after
just 16 minutes as Uche Agbo
replaced Aly Malle, but it couldn’t
prevent the one-way traffic.
Morata blasted home Danilo’s low
cross then bullied Martin Hongla
out of the way to fire home his 20th
goal of the season. Vazquez then hit
the bar and Casemiro somehow shot
over with the goal at his mercy as Madrid’s
dominance of the first 45 minutes
left some Granada fans in tears.
Real had mercy on the hosts
after the break, but now just need
seven points from their last three
games against Sevilla, Celta Vigo
and Malaga to seal a first La Liga
title in five years.
Barca maintained the pressure
on the European champions with
all of their front three on top form
against Villarreal.•
POINTS TABLE
Teams P W D L GD Pts
Barcelona 36 26 6 4 74 84
Real Madrid 35 26 6 3 57 84
Atletico Madrid 36 22 8 6 41 74
Sevilla 36 20 9 7 18 69
Villarreal 36 18 9 9 21 63
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi scores a goal against Villarreal during their Spanish La Liga Santander match at Camp Nou stadium, Barcelona, Spain
REUTERS