Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/257374
52 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 9 FEBRUARY 2014 FOOTBALL Sport ARSENAL'S capitulation at Liverpool and Manchester City managing only a draw at Norwich opened the door for Chelsea to go top of the table on Saturday night. And Eden Hazard's hat-trick en- sured the "little horse", as Jose Mour- inho described his team after victory at Manchester City, took full advan- tage. With erstwhile leaders Arsenal sinking to a miserable 5-1 loss at Liv- erpool in the lunchtime kick-off and City held 0-0 at Norwich, Chelsea moved a point clear at the top of the pile courtesy of a comfortable 3-0 win over Newcastle at Stamford Bridge. Hazard, this week dubbed the best young player in the world by his man- ager, went a long way to living up to that billing as he swept home a fine opener from the edge of the box on 27 minutes The Belgian made it two on 34 min- utes, converting smartly after a su- perb one-two in the area with Samuel Eto'o. The former Lille playmaker cel- ebrated his treble in the second half, converting from the spot after Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa brought down Eto'o. While Chelsea appear to be hitting their straps in the title race, the op- posite is true of Manuel Pellegrini's City. After Monday's damaging 1-0 de- feat at home to Chelsea, City were ex- pected to get back to their free-scor- ing ways at Carrow Road but came up short as Chris Hughton's hosts earned a notable shut-out. City's woes were nothing compared to those of Arsenal, however, who shipped four goals in the opening 20 minutes against a rampant Liver- pool. Martin Skrtel hit a brace inside the opening 10 minutes for Brendan Rodgers' men, while Raheem Sterling also claimed a brace of his own either side of Daniel Sturridge's strike as Liverpool hit five against the Gun- ners in the league for the first time since 1964. Away from the title battle, the ac- tion was just as heated at the foot of the table with Swansea, Crystal Pal- ace, West Ham and Hull each claim- ing key wins in their fight to beat the drop. In the evening kick-off, Garry Monk's audition to become Swan- sea's next manager got off to the perfect start with a handsome 3-0 victory over local rivals Cardiff in a frenetic south Wales derby. Monk, installed as head coach fol- lowing Michael Laudrup's dismissal, watched Wayne Routledge give his side the lead just after the break be- fore Nathan Dyer and Wilfried Bony secured the bragging rights late on. Kenwyne Jones missed two excel- lent first-half chances while the su- perb Craig Bellamy rattled the cross- bar for the visitors. Earlier, no fewer than three debu- tants were on the scoresheet as Pal- ace ran out 3-1 winners at home to West Brom, who now find themselves inside the bottom three. Tom Ince, signed from Blackpool on deadline day, marked his Eagles bow with a goal after 15 minutes, while Joe Ledley, freshly arrived from Celtic, made it two just before the half-hour. Another debutant on show needed just 60 seconds to announce his ar- rival in English football as West Brom's Thievy Bifouma, on loan from Espanyol, scored after entering the action as a half-time substitute. Palace made the points safe in the 69th minute when Marouane Cha- makh won and scored their third from the penalty spot, although there was more than a little doubt over the award of the spot-kick, with Baggies goalkeeper Ben Foster appearing to connect with the ball as he chal- lenged the Moroccan. Sam Allardyce's West Ham set aside the controversy over their failed bid to overturn Andy Carroll's recent red card as they claimed an eye-catching 2-0 win at Aston Villa. Kevin Nolan scored twice for the visitors, the first coming within a minute of the restart and the second just two minutes later as West Ham moved out of the relegation zone. Hull wrapped up a double over Sun- derland as goals from new boys Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic saw them to a 2-0 win at the Stadium of Light. The Black Cats were not helped by the fourth-minute dismissal of Wes Brown for a professional foul on Long, who then compounded Sunderland's misery by opening the scoring on 16 minutes. The incident severely dented Sun- derland's aspirations and it was no surprise when Hull doubled their lead in the second half through Jelavic, his first for the Tigers. In the day's other game, at St Mary's, Southampton and Stoke played out an entertaining 2-2 draw. A Rickie Lambert free-kick put the Saints into the lead but Stoke pulled level seven minutes before the break through Peter Odemwingie. The hosts immediately restored their advantage as Steven Davis fired home, but the Potters levelled a sec- ond time through Saints old boy Pe- ter Crouch. Hazard hits hat-trick as Chelsea go top Fiorentina defeat Atalanta as Napoli add more misery to Milan FIORENTINA bounced back from two straight defeats to put nine points between themselves and fifth- placed Hellas Verona thanks to a 2-0 win over Atalanta. A Josip Ilicic free-kick and late Rafal Wolski strike were enough to see off the challenge of Atalanta, who ended the game with 10 men after losing Luca Cigarini to a red card nine min- utes from time. The win puts the pressure on Na- poli, who host AC Milan on Saturday night now level on points with the Viola as the battle for places in the Champions League next season in- tensifies. Fiorentina had two reasons to be angry as they hosted Atalanta, keen to bounce back from defeats in Serie A and the Coppa Italia over the past week. They nearly took the lead against Atalanta in the 10th minute when Juan Cuadrado nearly got his ball through to Juan Vargas, but Cristian Raimondi cleared the danger. The Viola took the lead six min- utes later when Ilicic curled in a left- footed free-kick inside the near post, beating Andrea Consigli's attempts to keep the ball out. Anderson, making his starting de- but for Fiorentina following his move from Manchester United, then tested Consigli as the home team looked to build on their lead. Atalanta's calls for a penalty were waved away after half an hour when Maxi Moralez went down under the challenge of Fiorentina goalkeeper Neto, who then did well to stop Gi- acomo Bonaventura's shot from the edge of the area. Atalanta, who put three past Napoli a week ago, were starting to get into the game and Bonaventura was again denied by Neto, who subsequently cut out a dangerous cross from Mo- ralez. Borja Valero nearly made it two 10 minutes into the second half, but Consigli dived to make the save and keep Atalanta in the game. The Viola upped their search for a second goal and the lively Wolski caused plenty of problems following his introduction. Atalanta's hopes of finding a level- ler were dealt a blow when Cigarini picked up a second yellow card in the 81st minute, and Fiorentina took ad- vantage of the extra man to seal vic- tory through Wolski, who beat Con- sigli with a right-footed effort in the 86th minute. Meanwhile, Udinese pulled away from the Serie A relegation zone thanks to a 3-0 win over Chievo. Antonio Di Natale's third goal in his last four games unlocked the game for the Friulian side. Bruno Fernandes and Emmanuel Badu completed the rout to take Udi- nese nine points clear of the drop zone. The win also means Udinese can go into their midweek Coppa Italia decider with Fiorentina in confident mood. Buoyed by a 2-1 win over Fioren- tina in the first-leg of that semi-final tie on Tuesday night, Udinese were looking to transform their cup form into league points to lift them away from the danger zone. It looked like they were in cup mode too when Andrea Lazzarri fired a shot just wide early on, but Chievo resisted their early attacks. The visitors almost snatched the lead on the half-hour mark when Cyril Thereau hit the post with a backheeled effort at the end of a swift counter-attacking move. Chievo continued to sit back, soak up the pressure and seek chances on the break, but they almost came undone 10 minutes before half-time when Lazzari teed up Antonio Di Natale, but his delicate attempt to lob Christian Puggioni saw him simply hand the ball to the Chievo custo- dian. There was nothing at all simple about the execution of a volley which gave Udinese the lead in the 56th minute as Di Natale latched on to Dusan Basta's ball to continue his re- cent scoring spree. He then put Pereyra through to square low for Fernandes to make it two in the 76th minute and effec- tively put the points in the bank for the Zebrette. Di Natale was subsequently re- moved with coach Francesco Guido- lin already starting to think ahead to Wednesday's Coppa Italia semi-final second-leg trip to Fiorentina, a game they will now go into with even more confidence after Badu completed the comfortable victory over Chievo. Luis Muriel and Bruno Fernandes were both involved in setting up the winger, who side-footed the ball in to secure the points. In the final match of the day, Adel Taarabt marked his Milan debut with a goal to put the Rossoneri ahead, but Gokhan Inler replied immediately. Higuain then struck twice as Rafael Benitez's men coasted to a deserved victory which re-establishes their three-point advantage over fourth- placed Fiorentina and takes them to within three of second-placed Roma, who face Lazio in a derby on Sunday. In spite of a 3-2 defeat to Roma in the Coppa Italia in midweek and a 3-0 loss at Atalanta last weekend, Benitez was buoyant about his side's chances of bouncing back with two wins in the coming week. It looked like that faith was not mis- placed either as Napoli took the game to their hosts, setting up camp in their half and putting Milan's wobbly defence to the test. When Milan broke for the first time in the eighth minute they laid bare Napoli's own defensive misgiv- ings with Taarabt allowed to advance with the ball at his feet before placing a shot beyond the reach of Pepe Reina into the bottom right-hand corner. It was a fine way to open his account for his new club, but Milan's lead did not last long. Napoli's reply was an equally im- pressive effort from Inler, whose shot from 25 yards took a deflection off Nigel De Jong to loop over Christian Abbiati. The Milan goalkeeper could count himself fortunate still to be on the field soon after as in the 22nd minute he floored Dries Mertens after he latched onto a delightful lobbed ball over the top from Lorenzo Insigne. Another ball over the top, this time from Jorginho, was volleyed just wide by Marek Hamsik before Insigne's persistence led to Christian Mag- gio hitting the post as chance after chance went begging for the hosts. The Napoli onslaught continued into the second half with Insigne's dipping shot only just clearing the crossbar before Higuain glanced In- ler's cross in to give Napoli a deserved lead in the 56th minute. Michael Essien fired a warning for Napoli with a shot from distance and when Higuain wasted another chance to double Napoli's lead, it seemed like their could yet be another twist in the game. Taarabt nearly provided it with a shot which Reina fumbled out with Mario Balotelli unable to slot the loose ball in while Giampaolo Pazzini went even closer to beating the Na- poli custodian. In perhaps Milan's best spell of the game, Napoli raced clear with Ham- sik sending through substitute Jose Callejon, who squared for Higuain to wrap up victory with less than 10 minutes to go, much to the relief and joy of the Stadio San Paolo crowd. Udinese pull away from relegation zone with victory over Chievo Fiorentina celebrate against Atalanta Chelsea's hat-trick hero Eden Hazard celebrates with his team-mates