Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/459448
36 HULL City managed to hold cham- pions Manchester City to a draw at the Etihad Stadium, Aston Villa finally scored, and Southampton scored a late winner against QPR. James Milner came to the rescue for Manchester City to score a well taken free kick and spare the cham- pions' blushes after falling behind against Hull. David Meyler had opened the score for the visiting team after some poor defending from Man- chester City, with James Milner sal- vaging a point for Pellegrini's men. Aston Villa finally scored after not finding the net for 11 hours of play in the Premier League when Jores Okore headed the ball into net as his team lost 2-1 to Chelsea. Eden Hazard opened the score for the blues after just eight minutes, with Oscar and Willian combining well to serve Hazard. Paul Lamberts' side worked hard to prevent Chelsea scoring more goals and instead managed to equalise through Jores Okore. However it was not to be for Aston Villa as Branislav Ivanovic volleyed home after being served by Cesar Azpilicueta to put Chelsea seven points clear of Manchester City. The impressive Southampton had to wait until the third minute of added time to secure a win against a compact QPR at Loftus Road. Mane scored the important goal for the Saints as they maintained their push for a place in the Champions League. Crystal Palace secured their fourth straight away win and an- other victory under new manager Alan Pardew as they beat Leicester 1-0 thanks to a goal by Joe Ledley. The midfielder nodded the ball home after substitute Brede Hange- land headed the ball back across goal. Defeat means Leicester remain anchored at the bottom of the table three points adrift from safety, with Burnley potentially increasing the gap should they beat West Brom on Sunday. Swansea came from behind to draw with Sunderland 1-1. Jermain Defoe put Sunderland ahead when he ran from inside his own half to fire the ball into the bottom corner. Swansea however had other inten- tions and Ki Sung Yeung equalised for the Swans who headed the ball into the net off a Kyle Naughton cross. In the North London Derby's ear- ly kick off, Mezut Ozil's third goal in as many matches since returning from injury gave the Gunners the lead in the 11th minute, with keeper David Ospina having to pull a se- ries of fine saves to keep his team in front. Tottenham were awarded for their efforts when in the 56th minute Harry Kane scored the equaliser to secure his first Northern derby goal. Kane then scored the winner four minutes before the final whistle with a strong header which ended in the far corner. Arsenal had started brightly with some possession work but the hosts quickly took control of the match even though going a goal down. Arsenal went ahead when Danny Welbeck burst through with pace pulling the ball back to Giroud, whose mis-hit effort fell to the feet of Ozil to volley the ball home. With Tottenham dominating pos- session, it was not long before they grabbed an equaliser when a f lick on from Christian Ericksen, Kane reacted the quickest to put the ball into the net. And with the game headed to a draw, Kane planted a looping header from a Bentaleb's cross into the far corner for his 14th Premier League goal this season. maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 FEBRUARY 2015 Sport FOOTBALL Football Results & Fixtures BOV Premier League Mosta - Sliema Wanderers ............... 1-2 Tarxien Rainbows - Hibernians ......... 1-4 Naxxar Lions - Zebbug Rangers ........ 4-0 Balzan - Pieta Hotspurs ................... 1-2 Today National Stadium 14:00 Floriana - Qormi 16:00 Birkirkata - Valletta England - Premier League Tottenham Hotspur - Arsenal............ 2-1 Aston Villa - Chelsea ........................ 1-2 Leicester City - Crystal Palace ........... 0-1 Manchester City - Hull City ............... 1-1 Queens P. Rangers - Southampton ... 0-1 Swansea City - Sunderland .............. 1-1 Everton - Liverpool .......................... 0-0 Today 13:00 Burnley - West Bromwich Albion 15:05 Newcastle United - Stoke City 17:15 West Ham United - Manchester C. Italy - Serie A Hellas Verona - Torino ..................... 1-3 Juventus - AC Milan ......................... 3-1 Today 12:30 Fiorentina - Atalanta 15:00 Cagliari - Roma 15:00 Empoli - Cesena 15:00 Parma - ChievoVerona 15:00 SSC Napoli - Udinese 15:00 Sampdoria - Sassuolo 20:45 Inter - Palermo Tomorrow 20:45 Lazio - Genoa Spain - Liga BBVA Deportivo La Coruna - Ebar .............. 2-0 Atletico Madrid - Real Madrid ........... 4-0 Villarreal - Granada ......................... 2-0 Levante - Malaga ............................ 4-1 Real Sociedad - Celta Vigo ............... Late Today 12:00 Cordoba - Almeria 17:00 Getafe - Sevilla 19:00 Espanyol - Valencia 21:00 Athletic Bilbao - Barcelona Tomorrow 20:45 Elche - Rayo Vallecano Germany - Bundesliga Schalke 04 - B. Moenchengladbach . 1-0 FC Colonge - Paderborn ................... 0-0 Freiburg - Borrusia Dortmund .......... 0-3 Mainz 05 - Hertha Berlin.................. 0-2 VfB Stuttgart - Bayern Munich .......... 0-2 Wolfsburg - Hoffenheim .................. 3-0 Hamburger SV - Hannover 96 ........... 2-1 Today 15:30 Werder Bremen - Bayer Leverkusen 17:30 Augsburg - Eintracht Frankfurt James Milner curls a free-kick home to spare City's blushes 'The Jet"' Zahra defeated in Italy City held by Hull, Chelsea win at Aston Villa ZAHRA lost his match in Italy to defend his World Kickboxing Net- work's (WKN) World Title Belt, and the title is now in the hands of the Italian athlete, Christian Zahe. "The Jet" faced Zahe in a 5x3 match with K1 rules. It was a tough one for Zahra, where he used his technique to encircle his opponent and wait for the time to go for the hit. Zahe had the height advantage and used it well to keep the Maltese at a distance while gaining points. In the first three rounds the Ital- ian kept more control of the match, and it was in the fourth and fifth round that Zahra started to gain points. At the end it was a jury's de- cision to give the victory to Zahe. The event was of a professional level where 7,000 spectators were watching 22 matches between athletes from 10 countries in the disciplines of K1, MMA and Thai Boxing. The main match was that of Giorgio Petrosyan who is well known in Italy as well as in the world of K1. During the event Master Noel Mercieca, Zahra's coach, was also as "Cornerman" with Erkan Varol from Turkey who has around 100 matches on a professional level. This year Zahra also came third in the finals for the Sportsman of the year award. Between the 13 and 14 February Team Noel will bring Fabio Siciliani for a seminar of Thai Boxing. Sicili- ani is known for winning several in- ternational titles as well as matches in Thailand in this discipline. For more information visit the Fa- cebook page of Ying Yang Kickbox- ing or contact Master Noel Mercie- ca on 79208283.