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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2015 Sport 55 FOOTBALL Valletta scrape past brave Qormi in narrow 2-1 win Valletta .....................2 Qormi ........................1 DESPITE taking the lead through a stunning effort by Argentine forward Federico Fal- cone early on, Valletta left it late to secure the three points to go top of the table. The Citizens' fourth consecu- tive win put them one point ahead of Balzan and four ahead of Hibernians and Birkirkara, who however have a game in hand. On the other hand, the defeat left Qormi in the bottom three on four points. However, Qormi fans can take heart from a gutsy performance against a supe- rior Valletta side and can count themselves unlucky to leave the Victor Tedesco Stadium empty- handed. Falcone's acrobatic volley put Valletta ahead on the 11th minute but Qormi were not dis- heartened by the Argentine's spectacular effort and the Yel- lows enjoyed long spells of pos- session. Qormi's perseverance was awarded on 24 minutes, when Terence Vella fired the ball past Henry Bonello in Valletta's goal. Qormi had a chance to go ahead five minutes after the break when Cremona saw his shot f ly over the bar. With Qor- mi the most dangerous side, the Yellows went close to score a second when Scottish midfielder Carlo Gordon Monti fired wide. On the 65th minute, Qormi once again Qormi went close to score a second but Bonello blocked Alex Nilsson's close- range effort. Eleven minutes lat- er, Noah Ojuola missed another excellent opportunity hitting high following a swift counter- attack for Qormi. Against the run of play, Val- letta notched the winner on the 82nd minute when Abdelka- rim Nafti's direct freekick saw the ball hit the woodwork and bounce off the goalkeeper before ending at the back of the net. VALLETTA Henry Bonello, Ian Azzopardi, Ryan Camielleri, Juan Gill Cruz, Albert Bruce, Njongo Priso (83' Jurgen Suda), Federico Matias Falcone (86' Jean Borg), Llywelyn Cremona (69' Jean Pierre Mifsud Trigan- za), Claudio Pani, Abdelkarim Nafti, Romeu Pericles Romao. Subs not used: Nicky Vella, Dan- iel Camilleri, Russell Fenech, Nicholas Pulis. Coach: Paul Zammit QORMI Jean Matthias Vel- la, Alessio Cassar, Ousmane Sidibe, Noah Olawole Ojuola, Billy Velo Berntsson, Steve Ag- ius (41'Emerson Vella), Clifford Gauci, Kurt Magro (80' Sorin Virgil Oproiescu), Carlo Gordon Monti, Terence Vella (68' Ryan Micallef ), Alex Nilsson. Subs not used: Isaac Kyle Grima, Karl Sciortino, Juan Carlos Viei- ra Peixoto, Joshua Barbara. Coach: Johann Scicluna Referee: Fyodor Zammit Assistant Referees: Alan Camill- eri, Peter Abela Fourth Official: Alan Mario Sant Yellow Cards: Cremona, Bernts- son, Agius, Magro Scorers: 11' Federico Falcone, 24' Terence Vella, 82' Abdelkarim Nafti BOV Player of the Match: Jean Matthias Vella ARSENAL moved to the top of the Barclays Premier League following a hard-earned 2-1 win over Everton at the Emirates Stadium. Two goals inside as many min- utes in the first half from Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny looked to have set the Gunners up for a comfortable evening. A deflected effort from Ross Barkley pulled Everton back into the match just before half-time - but there was to be no equaliser for the visitors, who finished the game with 10 men as a result of Gareth Barry's late dismissal fol- lowing two yellow cards. Giroud, preffered to Theo Walcott in attack, saw an effort come back off the crossbar before Romelu Lukaku also sent a header onto the top of the woodwork. Goalkeeper Petr Cech made a superb late block to deny Gerard Deulofeu as the Gunners, who defeated Bayern Munich in their midweek Champions League tie, moved a point ahead of Manches- ter City, who play at rivals United on Sunday. Jose Mourinho endured another tumultuous and disappointing day as his Chelsea side slipped to their fifth league defeat of the sea- son at West Ham. Mourinho was sent to the stands during the half-time interval, by which time his struggling cham- pions had already seen Mauro Za- rate put the Hammers ahead and lost Nemanja Matic to a red card. Gary Cahill levelled for the visi- tors in the 56th minute but Andy Carroll's first goal since January made it 2-1 and another grim day for the Blues. There was defeat for another under pressure manager as a late goal from Swansea secured a 2-1 away triumph over Aston Villa. Tim Sherwood's side have now lost six league games in a row, but it was the hosts who took the lead through Jordan Ayew after 62 minutes. That was quickly cancelled out by Gylfi Sigurdsson before Ayew's elder brother, Andre, grabbed all three points three minutes from time. At the King Power Stadium, Leicester's Jamie Vardy was cel- ebrating his elevation to an elite group. The England international scored the only goal of the game on the hour to become the eighth man in Premier League history to score in seven consecutive games. Norwich registered their third loss in a row at home to West Brom. The Baggies made it a hat-trick of 1-0 wins on the road this term with Salomon Rondon settling matters just after the interval. Stoke's three-game winning run was halted at the Britannia Sta- dium, Watford leaving with a 2-0 success courtesy of Troy Deeney first top-flight goal and a second from Amen Abdi. Arsenal's Olivier Giroud celebrates The nightmare season continues for Jose Mourinho Joy for Arsène Wenger, gloom for Mourinho as Arsenal go top