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52 Sport maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 JANUARY 2014 FOOTBALL Antonio Valencia gives United the lead United back to winning ways A review of Saturday's action in the Barclays Premier League, including important wins for Man United, Chelsea and Sunderland MANCHESTER United halted their three-match losing streak against Swansea as second-half goals from Antonio Valencia and Danny Welbeck eased the pressure on beleaguered manager David Moyes. At Old Trafford, where the Swans won for the first time in last weekend's FA Cup tie, the Welsh side were unable to repeat their heroics as United rediscovered the form that earned them six straight wins before that awful start to 2014. The tension created by a goalless opening 45 minutes, in which the brilliant Adnan Januzaj curled a free-kick against the bar and Welbeck missed a sitter, was broken straight after the break when Valencia rammed home from close range. Welbeck's sixth goal in nine games on the hour made the game safe, although an abysmal miss from Chris Smalling and a goalline clearance from Leon Britton to deny Shinji Kagawa prevented United adding the extra gloss. Adam Johnson fired Sunderland off the bottom of the Barclays Premier League table with a priceless hat-trick to drag Fulham back into relegation trouble. The 26-year-old England international followed up impressive individual displays in the cup victories over Carlisle and Manchester United to play the key role in a precious 4-1 victory at Craven Cottage. Johnson gave the visitors a 23rdminute lead with a fine free-kick and then set up fellow midfielder Ki Sung-yueng to double his side's advantage with a deflected 41stminute shot. Steve Sidwell headed Fulham back into it seven minutes after the restart, but Johnson added a second with 21 minutes remaining and then converted and 85thminute penalty to make sure the points headed back to Wearside. As a result, Crystal Palace slumped to the foot of the table after going down 2-0 at Tottenham on an afternoon when things might have turned out so differently. Palace were presented with a glorious opportunity to take the lead with just eight minutes gone after Mousa Dembele had fouled Marouane Chamakh, but Jason Puncheon skied his spot-kick horribly to let Spurs off the hook. Tim Sherwood's men took full advantage of their escape as Christian Eriksen and substitute Jermain Defoe struck after the break to seal victory. But there were better fortunes for beleaguered West Ham boss Sam Allardyce as his side bounced back from shipping 11 goals in their last two games to win 2-0 at Cardiff and leapfrog the Welshmen. Carlton Cole's 42nd-minute strike gave the visitors a halftime advantage, and although the visitors had to play out the closing stages with just 10 men after defender James Tomkins was sent off for a second bookable offence, midfielder Mark Noble added a second in injury time. The Hammers climbed out of the bottom three by virtue of their win with the Bluebirds slipping below them to leave new manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in little doubt as to the task he faces. Everton maintained their challenge for European qualification by overcoming a stubborn Nor- wich side 2-0 at Goodison Park. Gareth Barry opened the scoring with 23 minutes gone, before Kevin Mirallas wrapped up the points with a 59th-minute freekick. Adam Lallana's lone strike was all Southampton needed to see off West Brom 1-0. The England international's 66th-minute strike did the trick on a day when the Saints dominated possession, but had to fight all the way to the whistle. Chelsea had earlier eased themselves back to the top of the table with a hard-fought 2-0 victory at Hull. The game was scoreless at the break with Tigers goalkeeper Allan McGregor having produced a stunning save to deny Oscar the opening goal. Opposite number Petr Cech too had to be at his best to keep out efforts from Ahmed Elmohamady and Jake Livermore as he recorded a 209th clean sheet in his 458th appearance for the club, in the process beating Peter Bonetti's record that had stood since 1979. A stunning 57th-minute Eden English Premier league Standings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Chelsea Arsenal Manchester City Everton Tottenham H. Liverpool Manchester U. Newcastle U. Southampton Hull City Aston Villa Stoke City Swansea City West B. Albion Norwich City Fulham West Ham United Cardiff City Sunderland Crystal Palace P 21 20 20 21 21 20 21 20 21 21 20 20 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 Pts 46 45 44 41 40 39 37 33 30 23 23 22 21 21 20 19 18 18 17 17 Hazard strike put the visitors ahead, and they cemented the win three minutes from time when Fernando Torres made sure of the points on his 200th Premier League appearance. Parma put three past Livorno as Bologna and Lazio settle for a draw PARMA ran out victorious against Serie A's bottom club Livorno by an emphatic but flattering 3-0 scoreline. Raffaele Palladino's early goal should have set the tone against a team who went into the game with only three wins and four draws from 18 games. But instead Parma were made to withstand a second-half onslaught before Amauri's double in the last five minutes, including a stoppage-time penalty, wrapped up the points. New Bologna coach Davide Ballar- dini was unable to get off to a winning start as visiting Lazio held them to a goalless draw. Ballardini replaced the sacked Stefano Pioli following Monday's 2-0 defeat at Catania, Bologna's third loss in four league games. While no doubt happy to avoid defeat on his debut, the veteran coach knows better will be needed in the months ahead to turn around a run that has seen fourth-bottom Bologna win just three of their 19 games this season. YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt Italian Serie A Standings Amauri enjoys his late double for Parma 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Juventus Roma SSC Napoli Fiorentina Hellas Verona Inter Parma Torino Lazio Genoa AC Milan Cagliari Udinese Sampdoria Atalanta ChievoVerona Bologna Sassuolo Livorno Catania P 18 18 18 18 18 18 19 18 19 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 19 18 19 18 Pts 49 41 39 36 32 31 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 18 18 16 16 14 13 13