S PORTSSUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017

ANFIELD: Liverpool’s Brazilian midfielder Roberto Firmino (L) heads the ball to score a goal during the English Premier League football matchbetween Liverpool and Swansea City at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England yesterday. — AFP

LIVERPOOL: Gylfi Sigurdsson’s decisive goalboosted Swansea’s hopes of Premier Leaguesurvival as they inflicted Liverpool’s first homedefeat for almost a year with a 3-2 triumph atAnfield yesterday.

Iceland international Sigurdsson, who hasrepeatedly been linked with a move away fromthe Welsh club, struck with 16 minutes left afterPaul Clement’s side had let a two-goal lead slipagainst title-chasing Liverpool.

Fernando Llorente had scored twice in thefirst seven minutes of the second half forSwansea, but Liverpool’s Roberto Firminoresponded with a double of his own.

Swansea showed great spirit to come backand earn both the Welsh club’s first-ever leaguewin at Anfield and their first under PremierLeague victory under new manager Clement.

In doing so, they lifted themselves off thefoot of the Premier League table and out of thebottom three, at least for a few hours.

Liverpool, playing their eighth match in 25days, paid for sloppy defending, and missed thechance to put pressure on leaders Chelsea, los-ing at home for the first time since Stoke won

the second leg of a League Cup semi-final atAnfield on January 26 last year.

Philippe Coutinho, now fully recovered frominjury, made his first league start sinceNovember after playing for 65 minutes inWednesday’s FA Cup win at Plymouth, butshowed only occasional sparks of creativity dur-ing a tepid first half.

It was Swansea, for all the pressure they hadto absorb, who came closest to scoring beforethe interval. Midfielder Tom Carroll, signed fromTottenham during the week, ran in from the lefton to Sigurdsson’s pass infield and struck theoutside of the near post from a tight angle, via adeflection off Dejan Lovren.

Both Carroll and fellow debutant MartinOlsson, brought in from Norwich, performedsolidly, with the Swedish full-back making onepositive attacking run that ended when he wasbodychecked by Ragnar Klavan.

One excellent turn from Coutinho just afterthe half-hour mark allowed him to create achance for Firmino, who would have scored butfor Alfie Mawson’s block.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp’s frustrationgrew as Swansea went ahead with little morethan two minutes of the second half played.

LLORENTE AT THE DOUBLE Not for the first time this season, Liverpool

conceded from a set-piece; Sigurdsson’s cornerwas headed down by Federico Fernandez,Wayne Routledge blocked off the defender andthe ball bounced loose for Llorente to prod in

from eight yards. Astonishingly, Llorente scoredagain from Swansea’s next attack, barely fourminutes later. Olsson and Carroll combineddown the left, and the former Tottenham mancrossed for the Spain striker to climb betweenLovren and Klavan, planting a downward head-er past Simon Mignolet.

Liverpool, however, pulled a goal back withinthree minutes. James Milner crossed from theleft, the ball drifted over Olsson, and Firminoguided a header into the bottom corner of thenet. Swansea continued to threaten but Klopp’sside equalised with little more than 20 minutesto go courtesy of a superbly constructed goal.

Georginio Wijnaldum controlled a pass downthe left touchline, and looped in a cross thatFirmino gathered on the chest under pressurefrom two Swansea defenders, before hooking afirst-time shot past Lukasz Fabianski.

Yet having worked their way back into thematch, Liverpool fell behind again amid chaoticdefending. Carroll charged into the penalty areaafter taking on Llorente’s pass and, as Klavanslid in to challenge, the ball ran loose forSigurdsson to steer beyond the exposedMignolet.

Swansea had more nervous moments tocome, with Fabianski blocking substitute DivockOrigi’s shot on the turn following a Milner cor-ner, and then watching helplessly as AdamLallana looped a header against the bar. But thevisitors, denied victory by an Everton stoppage-time equaliser on their last visit to Merseyside inNovember, hung on to all three points. — AFP

Sigurdsson strike

stuns Liverpool

Liverpool 2

Swansea 3

BIRMINGHAM: Clinical first-half volleysfrom Darren Fletcher and Chris Brunt gavebuoyant West Brom a 2-0 win overSunderland yesterday, leaving the visitorsbottom of the Premier League.

For Tony Pulis’s West Brom this was threewins from four Premier League games andleaves them in a lofty eighth place on 32points. The visiting fans chanted “Are youwatching Ellis Short” for much of the sec-ond half, directed at their owner, theAmerican equity fund manager who is try-ing to sell the club which is winless in fiveleague games.

Powerful West Brom have made a habitof seeing off weaker opponents and after a4-0 thrashing by Spurs and defeat to Derbyin the FA Cup in their last two outings the

Baggies showed no mercy to David Moyes’modest Sunderland line-up.

West Brom’s opener came on the halfhour when their captain Fletcher controlleda ball on his chest from a poorly clearedcorner before volleying it left-footed fromthe edge of the area. Sunderland were leftwith only themselves to blame for havingfailed to clear the corner and for giving theScot so much time unchallenged.

Brunt then made it 2-0 on 36 mins aftera fine run and shot from Matt Phillips sawVito Mannone forced into a desperate save.

The rebound was fired onto the crossbarby Nacer Chadli before Brunt produced astunning finish from just inside the box.

Moyes’ men came out in the second halfwith more fight in them and Adnan Januzajand Jermain Defoe both produced decentefforts while Jack Rodwell’s shot from dis-tance was easily dealt with by Ben Foster inthe West Brom goal.

Pulis’s first capture of the transfer win-dow, Jake Livermore-capped once byEngland when he was at Spurs-made a live-ly cameo appearance for an upbeat WestBrom. — AFP

West Brom volleys leave

Sunderland rock bottom

West Brom 2

Sunderland 0

MADRID: Real Madrid captain SergioRamos struck twice within eight first-halfminutes to get the European championsback to winning ways with a 2-1 victoryover Malaga at the Santiago Bernabeu yes-terday. Madrid’s 40-game unbeaten runhad come to a crashing halt with back-to-back defeats to Sevilla and Celta Vigo in thepast week, but after a nervy start Ramosensured they opened up a four-point gapat the top of the table.

Ramos opened the scoring with a tower-ing header from a Toni Kroos corner on 35minutes. And the Spanish internationalsoon took his career tally to 50 La Ligagoals by bundling home another Kroosdelivery despite standing in an offside posi-tion. Juanpi got Malaga back into the gamejust after the hour mark and could evenhave snatched a point but for a fine savefrom Keylor Navas to deny Chory Castrosoon after. Second-placed Sevilla andBarcelona, a further point adrift in third,can close the gap when they travel toOsasuna and Eibar respectively today.

Whilst Ramos was riding to Real’s rescue,Cristiano Ronaldo endured another forget-ful afternoon in front of goal and was evenwhistled by the Madrid fans early on after asluggish start to 2017.

Ronaldo shot straight at Carlos Kameniwith just the Cameroonian to beat andKarim Benzema headed just over as Madridstarted brightly.

However, the hosts suffered an earlyinjury blow when left-back Marcelo limpedoff with a thigh injury and could have beenbehind midway through the first half whenCastro’s driven effort came back off thepost. Ignacio Camacho was also inchesaway from giving the visitors the lead whenhis backpost header flew across the Madridgoal. However, Ramos looked to have set-tled Real’s nerves when he leapt highest topower home Kroos’s outswinging corner 10minutes before the break.

And eight minutes later Ramos had hiseighth goal of the season, albeit in scrappi-er fashion, as he appeared to be offsidewhen tapping home Kroos’s low free-kick.

Malaga are yet to register a point inthree games under new boss MarceloRomero since former Tottenham Hotspurmanager Juande Ramos’s surpriseDecember resignation.

Yet they didn’t let their heads go downand were back in the game 18 minutes intothe second half when Juankar’s initial effortwas well saved and Juanpi tucked homethe rebound.

Seconds later Navas was called intoaction to prevent Malaga equalising asCastro tore through the Madrid defenceand his powerful effort was turned to safe-ty by the Costa Rican.

At the other end Kameni nearly giftedReal the breathing space they craved as aharmless backpass rolled under his foot,but he recovered just in time to clear offthe line and then deny Ronaldo’s follow-up effort. And a frustrating afternoon forRonaldo was rounded off 14 minutesfrom time when his sweetly struck volleycame back off the post before Kamenigot down low to again deny the reigningWorld Player of the Year for a third timelate on. —AFP

Ramos saves Madrid

as fans target Ronaldo

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Southampton v Leicester City 15:00

BeIN SPORTS

Arsenal FC v Burnley 17:15

BeIN SPORTS

Chelsea FC v Hull City 19:30

SPANISH LEAGUE

Osasuna v Sevilla FC 14:00

BeIN SPORTS

Bilbao v Atletico de Madrid 18:15

BeIN SPORTS

Real Betis v Sporting Gijon 20:30

BeIN SPORTS

Real Sociedad v Celta de Vigo 20:30

BeIN SPORTS

SD Eibar v FC Barcelona 22:45

BeIN SPORTS

ITALIAN CALCIO LEAGUE

Juventus FC v SS Lazio 14:30

BeIN SPORTS

Bologna FC v Torino 17:00

BeIN SPORTS

Genoa CFC v Crotone 17:00

BeIN SPORTS

Empoli v Udinese Calcio 17:00

BeIN SPORTS

Citta v Internazionale 17:00

BeIN SPORTS

Pescara v Sassuolo Calcio 17:00

BeIN SPORTS

Atalanta v UC Sampdoria 20:00

BeIN SPORTS

AS Roma v Cagliari Calcio 22:45

BeIN SPORTS

GERMAN BUNDESLIGA

Bayer 04 v Hertha Berlin 17:30

BeIN SPORTS

FSV Mainz 05 v FC Koln 19:30

BeIN SPORTS

FRENCH LEAGUE

AS Monaco FC v Lorient 17:00

BeIN SPORTS

Saint Etienne v Angers 19:00

BeIN SPORTS

Lyonnais v de Marseille 23:00

BeIN SPORTS

AFRICAN NATIONS CUP

Cameroon v Gabon 22:00

BeIN SPORTS

Guinea-Bissau v Burkina Faso 22:00

BeIN SPORTS

MADRID: Real Madrid’s French defender Raphael Varane (C) vies with Malaga’sdefender Jose Luis (L) and Malaga’s midfielder Recio (R) during the Spanish leaguefootball match Real Madrid CF vs Malaga CF at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium inMadrid yesterday. — AFP

MIDDLESBROUGH: Andy Carroll scored twice as West Hamadded to Middlesbrough’s struggles in the Premier Leaguewith a 3-1 win at the Riverside Stadium yesterday.

The England international sent a thumping header beyondVictor Valdes to give the Hammers, who were again playingwithout want-away France playmaker Dimitri Payet, a ninth-minute lead. Christian Stuani finished off a superbly construct-ed team move to draw Boro level before the half hour, butCarroll struck again two minutes before the break with substi-tute Jonathan Calleri sealing the victory at the death.

Slaven Bilic’s men have now won five of their last sevenmatches to climb into the top half of the table, but Bororemain in 16th place after a fifth straight game without a win.Payet’s refusal to play for West Ham amidst his desire to returnto Marseille has seen the Frenchman forced to train with theclub’s Under-23 squad and he was again left out the first-teamsquad for the trip to Boro.

But despite the absence of their influential midfielder, WestHam quickly found their stride with Michail Antonio slicingwide on the volley from Aaron Cresswell’s cross.

The visitors went ahead soon after as Carroll rose to meetManuel Lanzini’s inswinging corner and plant a thumpingheader past a helpless Valdes to get on the scoresheet for thesecond game running. Aitor Karanka’s Boro are the league’slowest-scoring team but they hit back on 27 minutes throughStuani as the Uruguayan side-footed home Calum Chambers’pass following a passage of slick play from the hosts.

West Ham regained the lead before the interval whenCarroll pounced to slot in the rebound after Valdes had keptout a fierce long-range drive from Antonio, West Ham’s lead-ing scorer with eight goals this season.

Antonio then headed over at the start of the second halfwhile Lanzini fluffed a one-on-one with Valdes having beenslipped in by Carroll. Republic of Ireland goalkeeper DarrenRandolph turned behind a firm header from Boro’s Marten deRoon as Adama Traore was proving a handful down bothflanks. And the Hammers were fortunate not to concede afluke equaliser when Cresswell smashed an attempted clear-ance straight into Stuani, with the ball looping off the bar andaway to safety. Karanka introduced new signing PatrickBamford, who scored 19 goals in 44 appearances while onloan from Chelsea in 2014-15, with 10 minutes play but WestHam wrapped up the points with Calleri’s deflected effortdeep into stoppage time. —AFP

LONDON: Seamus Coleman’s late strike gaveEverton a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace yesterdayto leave the losers without a win under SamAllardyce in five Premier League matches andthird from bottom of the table. The Irish interna-tional’s goal four minutes from time was nomore than the visitors deserved-recording winsin their first three league matches in a calendaryear for the first time since 2008 — having pep-pered the Palace goal with 16 shots prior tothat. Palace, with just one win in their last sevenleague matches and only one clean sheet intheir last 22, dropped into the bottom threewhen Swansea pulled off a thrilling 3-2 win overLiverpool earlier yesterday. Things look evenbleaker for Palace and Allardyce as their run-inwill see them play the present top five in theirlast nine games. Palace pressed early on,Christian Benteke going close with his glancingheader clipping the crossbar.

Palace’s bright start, though, petered out

and Everton’s Belgian international midfielderKevin Mirallas-who had had a penalty appealturned down-then forced Palace goalkeeperWayne Hennessey into a decent save. The Welshinternational goalkeeper, though, could donothing about Romelu Lukaku’s shot from 12yards out-after receving a perfectly threadedpass from Gareth Barry-but it rebounded off thepost. Ross Barkley went close early in the sec-ond-half, although he could have done betterby squaring it to Lukaku who was better-placed.

Everton then went close again throughBarkley after Coleman’s curled effort waspalmed away by Hennessey and fell to theEngland international. Barkley kept on batteringaway at the Palace goal but the results didn’timprove as he went one-on-one withHennessey but missed again.

Palace barely managed to get out of theirown half. However, they went close to stealingthe three points but Joel Robles pulled off asmart save from Benteke’s header. The visitors,though, were not to be denied and all theirpressure paid off with Coleman deftly lifting theball over Hennessey to break the deadlock fourminutes from time after being found by TomDavies. Palace players and Allardyce were furi-ous as they had a player down at the time of themove and Everton didn’t put the ball out whilstthe referee allowed play to carry on. —AFP

Coleman deepens crisis

for Allardyce and Palace

Crystal Palace 0

Everton 1

LONDON: Crystal Palace’s Scottish midfielder James McArthur (C) goes down under achallenge from Everton’s English defender Leighton Baines (L) during the EnglishPremier League football match between Crystal Palace and Everton at Selhurst Parkin south London yesterday. — AFP

Carroll brace fires

Hammers past Boro

Middlesbrough 1

West Ham 3