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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2014 55 Sport FOOTBALL RUGBY Wayne Rooney seals Manchester United's first away win of season at Arsenal A review of Saturday's action in the Barclays Premier League as Manchester United beat Arsenal 2-1 to move fourth in the table AN own goal by Kieran Gibbs and Wayne Rooney's fourth Barclays Premier League strike of the sea- son lifted Manchester United to a 2-1 victory at Arsenal on Saturday night and into fourth place. Louis van Gaal, facing Arsenal for the first time since taking charge of the Red Devils, had goalkeeper David de Gea to thank for keeping the match level in the first half. Everything changed 11 minutes after the restart when Gibbs col- lided with his own goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, while the latter was punching away a cross. When United's Antonio Valencia sent the ball back into the area with a cross-shot, Gibbs, who was still on the ground, stuck his leg out and def lected a ball that was initially off target into the goal. Szczesny was hurt in the collision with Gibbs and had to be substitut- ed and when Rooney was put clear on the counter by Angel Di Maria, he clipped the ball over replace- ment Damian Martinez. Arsenal got a lifeline in time added on through Olivier Giroud's drive but United held on for all three points to climb into fourth place behind leaders Chelsea, Man- chester City and Southampton. Chelsea beat 10-man West Brom to strengthen their grip at the top of the Premier League and also set a club record for starting the cam- paign with an unbeaten 12-game run. Jose Mourinho's side prevailed 2-0, with first-half goals from Di- ego Costa and Eden Hazard. Costa, who was not called up for Spain's last two games so he could rest, netted his 11th goal in 10 matches in the 11th minute after being set up by Oscar and the sec- ond goal came when Hazard met Cesc Fabregas' corner with a left- footed shot into the left corner. Just four minutes later and West Brom's challenge became more difficult when Claudio Yacob was shown a red card. The victory put Chelsea on 35 points - 10 clear of Southampton, who play at Aston Villa on Mon- day. City climbed into second place on 27 points after coming from behind to defeat Swansea 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium. Wilfried Bony gave the visitors a 1-0 lead just nine minutes into the contest, chesting down Nathan Dy- er's pass before finishing neatly. But the Blues needed just five minutes to pull level with a goal from Stevan Jovetic and, after Gael Clichy hit the bar for the home side, Fernandinho back-heeled the ball into the path of Yaya Toure in the 62nd minute and he smashed in the winner. A win would have allowed Swan- sea to leapfrog West Ham after the Hammers slumped to a 2-1 defeat at Everton. The Toffees went in front with a 26th-minute strike from Romelu Lukaku and though Mauro Zarate equalised via a def lection off Phil Jagielka, midfielder Leon Osman celebrated his 400th appearance for Everton when he slid in to con- vert a low cross from Samuel Eto'o on a counter-attack. Newcastle won for the fifth straight league game and leap- frogged Swansea and West Ham in the table after Moussa Sissoko's 78th-minute goal downed QPR 1-0. Burnley are out of the league basement after a pair of first-half goals in quick succession from Danny Ings at Stoke. Jonathan Walters pulled a goal back for Stoke in the 32nd minute but the visitors prevailed 2-1. Burnley are now third bottom, level on 10 points with Leicester after the Foxes ended up with a 0-0 draw at Sunderland. Leicester had chances to score through Jeffrey Schlupp and Matt James but the club have gone five consecutive games without hitting the back of the net. Swieqi defeat Kavallieri in close encounter KAVALLIERI .................15 SWIEQI OVERSEAS .......18 MIKE TURNER FROM the very start Kavallieri swept to the attack and should have scored from their traditional lineout maul drive but somehow the Overseas, possibly through the experience of New Zealander Hol- mes, held them out. Overseas took the lead with a try by Stivala and began to dominate the set scrums. Kavallieri hit back with a penalty by Edmunds after working for territory. Overseas were winning vital ball and shov- ing the Kavallieri backwards to win against the head. Kavallieri f ly half Edmunds earned a yellow card with a very silly shoulder charge and Overseas almost immediately ex- tended their lead with a second try in the corner but Briffa missed the conversion. Stivala was sidelined with a strained hamstring which reduced the fire power of Overseas. The game teetered on the verge of losing discipline and Cutajar, Kav- allieri, Briffa, Overseas exchanged penalties so the half ended at 13 - 3. Kavallieri started the second half determined to show their re- nowned club spirit and launched a series of attacks but were talented Overseas front row, of all people covered spaces well. Veteran Vassallo was always a dangerous runner for Kavallieri and had a battle royal with the ex- perienced Holmes, which was hard but fair. He had several good runs but tended to be stopped because he so enjoyed the physical charge, instead of releasing earlier. Kavallieri certainly had the ter- ritorial advantage, even playing uphill but lost the advantage by arguing with the referee. Kavallieri attacks were passionate and physi- cal but Overseas were smoother and more incisive with their speed. Kavallieri worked their way back to half way and a superb long pass by Serbian Calic to gave Kawara the opportunity to run 50 metres, beating 4 covering men by speed and pace change to score a superb try, converted by Edmunds. Over- seas were stung into retaliation and the two props ran like backs to gain ground before being dragged down close the line. More pressure and Kavallieri gave away a scrum close to the line from which Overseas made the al- most inevitable try off the back, to stretch out their lead again. Kavallieri spirit means they are never giving up and they were soon attacking again and a yellow card was awarded to Overseas Brown, putting them under real pressure. Vassallo ripped the ball from the hands of an Overseas player in the maul and set off on a superb 75 metre run, side stepping and shak- ing off tacklers and showing a sur- prising sustained show of strength to score and bring his side back to within 3 points. Kavallieri has their tails up and won a penalt y which would have brought them level, but Edmunds missed the conversion. Overseas made one final great effort and managed to pin Kavallieri back into their own 22 and keep them there to play out the game and notch up their second win to lead the Cisk Lager League. Kavallieri can look at this as a match they could have won, but Overseas have a knack of win- ning.