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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 APRIL 2015 33 Sport FOOTBALL SPORTTODAY Aaron Ramsey scores early on in the game against Burnley Arsenal close gap, Villa beat Spurs Arsenal boosted their Premier League title hopes with a victory at Burnley, Aston Villa moved six points clear of the relegation zone with a win at Tottenham, while Sunderland were hammered 4-1 at home by Crystal Palace AARON Ramsey's first-half effort was enough to hand Arsenal a 1-0 win at Burnley to close the gap on league leaders Chelsea to four points. Ramsey rif led a half-volley into the roof of the net 12 minutes in at Turf Moor after a goalmouth scramble as Arsene Wenger's side collected another victory to put the pressure on Jose Mourinho's table-toppers, though the Blues have two games in hand. George Boyd and Danny Ings wasted presentable chances for the Clarets in the closing stages, but Sean Dyche's men were unable to truly trouble the visitors. Christian Benteke's fine goal- scoring form continued as he helped Aston Villa to three crucial points with a 1-0 win over man- ager Tim Sherwood's former club Tottenham Hotspur. The Belgium international's eighth goal in six Premier League games broke the deadlock at White Hart Lane on 35 minutes, as he headed in from Leandro Ba- cuna's cross. Spurs pushed for a leveller in the second half, which saw U.S. inter- national DeAndre Yedlin come on for his Spurs debut, but Villa held on as they edged away from the drop zone. Yannick Bolasie's second-half hat trick sealed a fourth consecutive top-f light win for Crystal Palace as they hammered Sunderland 4-1 at the Stadium of Light. Glenn Murray set in-form Pal- ace on their way as he headed in early in the second half from close range. Bolasie then netted on the 51st and 53rd minute, the first assisted by Murray and the second nestling in the bottom corner via Mile Jedi- nak 's pass. The winger completed his hat trick as he prodded beyond goal- keeper Costel Pantilimon, bring- ing Sunderland, who scored a late consolation through Connor Wickham, back down to earth af- ter their derby win over Newcastle last time out. Bottom-of-the-table Leicester claimed a dramatic and crucial 3-2 win over West Bromwich Albion as Jamie Vardy scored in injury time. Darren Fletcher put West Brom in front on eight minutes with a header but David Nugent levelled for Leicester, finishing with his left foot past goalkeeper Boaz My- hill. West Brom restored their lead before half-time as Craig Gard- ner slotted beyond shot-stopper Kasper Schmeichel thanks to Brown Ideye's assist. However, Robert Huth equalised with 10 minutes remaining before Vardy netted with seconds re- maining to boost Leicester's hopes of survival, leaving the club three points adrift of safety with seven matches still to play. Southampton climbed to fifth in the table with a 2-0 victory over struggling Hull City, as Graziano Pelle scored his first top-f light goal in four months. Hull found themselves 1-0 down on 56 minutes after Alex Bruce felled Shane Long in the box, with James Ward-Prowse stepping up to beat goalkeeper Steve Harper with the spot kick. Pelle ended his goal drought for Southampton, his first in the Pre- mier League since December, to wrap up the three points, turn- ing in from Morgan Schneiderlin's cutback. Stoke denied West Ham in dra- matic fashion as Marko Arnau- tovic scored in the fifth minute of injury time, with the game ending 1-1. West Ham needed just seven min- utes to take the lead in their meet- ing with Stoke, as Aaron Cresswell curled home a fine free kick past goalkeeper Asmir Begovic. But in the dying moments Ar- nautovic pounced on Ryan Shaw- cross' header to lash past goal- keeper Adrian. A Jonjo Shelvey penalty clinched a point for Swansea as they drew 1-1 with Everton at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday lunchtime. Aaron Lennon, on loan from Tottenham, opened the scoring just before half-time as he calmly finished following a cross by James McCarthy from the left. Everton were awarded a penalty in the second half when Seamus Coleman handballed in the box under pressure from Bafetimbi Gomis. Shelvey stepped up to send goal- keeper Tim Howard the wrong way, as both sides maintained their improving form of late.