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60 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 NOVEMBER 2015 Sport FOOTBALL RUGBY Liverpool beat Chelsea as pressure grows on Jose Mourinho Jose Mourinho's future as Chelsea manager hangs by a thread after a Philippe Coutinho- inspired Liverpool came from behind to beat Chelsea 3-1 JOSE Mourinho's position as Chel- sea boss appears ever more precari- ous after Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool won 3-1 to inflict Chelsea's sixth de- feat in 11 Barclays Premier League games. Philippe Coutinho scored two fine goals after Ramires had given Chelsea a fourth-minute lead to pile more pressure on Mourinho, who only in May won his third Premier League title. Christian Benteke's third allowed Jurgen Klopp to celebrate a second victory in his fifth game as Liver- pool boss since replacing Brendan Rodgers. It left Mourinho pondering his fu- ture and further perceived injustices at Stamford Bridge. A late Yaya Toure penalty kept Manchester City top of the Premier League table with a 2-1 victory at home to Norwich. Title favourites City were expect- ed to ease past Norwich but Manuel Pellegrini's side were made to work for the three points, Toure convert- ing a late penalty after Russell Mar- tin was sent off for handball. Nicolas Otamendi headed the hosts ahead with his first goal for the club before Joe Hart dropped a cross at the feet of Cameron Jerome, who equalised from barely a yard out. It looked like Alex Neil's side were set for an unlikely point only for Martin to handle Raheem Sterling's shot inside the box, picking up a red card and seeing Toure slam home the spot-kick with two minutes re- maining. Things could have got worse for the visitors as Robbie Brady brought down Sterling in the box, but with Toure having been substitute Ale- ksandar Kolarov took over penalty duties and shot wide. Arsenal thought they had taken over at the summit having secured an impressive 3-0 victory at Swan- sea. After a close first half, Olivier Gir- oud glanced home Alexis Sanchez's corner to score the 2,000th goal under Arsene Wenger for the Gun- ners. Laurent Koscielny then doubled the visitors' advantage, with Swan- sea claiming goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was fouled by the France defender. Joel Campbell then made sure of the points by topping off his first Premier League start with a curling finish from inside the box. City and Arsenal are now separat- ed on goal difference while Leicester are third after again coming from behind to win 3-2 at West Brom - with Jamie Vardy on the scoresheet once more. The Foxes went behind as Salo- mon Rondon scored for the second game in succession but Claudio Ranieri's men have shown plenty of fight this season and a Riyad Mah- rez brace put them in front before Vardy scored for the eighth Premier League game running - with only Daniel Sturridge and Ruud van Nis- telrooy having done so in the past. The visitors hung on for the win to remain unbeaten on the road de- spite Rickie Lambert's late penalty after Nathan Dyer had felled Cal- lum McManaman. Leicester replace Manchester United in third as Louis van Gaal's side were held to a 0-0 draw at Crys- tal Palace. The Red Devils have not scored in over five hours and a Wayne Rooney free-kick was their only effort on target as they were lucky to leave Selhurst Park with a point. Yannick Bolasie hit the bar for Alan Pardew's Eagles, with Yohan Cabaye arguably missing their best chance to record a famous win. West Ham also lost ground on the leaders after losing on the road for the first time under Slaven Bilic - going down 2-0 at Watford and fin- ishing with 10 men. The Hammers have won at Arse- nal, Manchester City and Liverpool before beating Chelsea at Upton Park last weekend but they were the architects of their own downfall. The recalled Andy Carroll lost possession in his own box, with Nathan Ake crossing for Odion Ighalo to bundle home, and the Ni- geria international helped himself to a seventh goal of the campaign as he collected an Ikechi Anya cross after James Tomkins miscued his clearance. West Ham's Enner Valencia hit the woodwork but, when James Collins was sent off late on, the points were wrapped up for Quique Sanchez Flores' side. If Hart had dropped a clanger in City's win over Norwich, fellow England goalkeeper Jack Butland again showed he can provide stiff competition for Roy Hodgson's number one with a superb display in Stoke's 0-0 draw at Newcastle. Steve McClaren's side created the better chances but Aleksandar Mitrovic hit the post in the first half before Butland twice saved well from Moussa Sissoko and kept out Jamaal Lascelles' late header with a superb stop. Christian Benteke makes it 3-1 to Liverpool at Chelsea All Blacks overwhelm Australia to win record third World Cup NEW Zealand cemented their status as the greatest team in rugby history when they over- whelmed Australia 34-17 at Twickenham on Saturday to become world champions for a record third time, and the first nation to retain the Webb Ellis Cup. Tries from Nehe Milner-Skud- der and Ma'a Nonu had the All Blacks cruising 21-3 early in the second half before Ben Smith 's yellow card opened the door for Australia, who got back within four points with tries by David Pocock and Tuvita Kuridrani. But f lyhalf Dan Carter, who missed most of the 2011 tour- nament through injury and who is retiring from international rugby after Saturday's match, stepped up with an exquisite drop goal and a 50-metre pen- alty to put the result beyond doubt. Replacement wing Beauden Barrett applied the black icing to the Kiwi World Cup cake with a late try which Carter converted to take his personal tally to 19 points New Zealand have lost just three times in 54 matches since their triumph on home soil four years ago, and have won every World Cup match since losing to France in the 2007 quarter- finals. "I'm pretty grateful to be where I am considering what happened four years ago," said Carter, who was also part of the unsuccess- ful 2003 and 2007 campaigns. "I'm so proud of the team. To win back-to-back World Cups is a dream come true. It's a pretty strong group of guys. We try to do things no other team has done before... it's a special feel- ing to be part of such a great team." New Zealand looked on their game from the start, zipping the ball sharply along the lines and creating quick ball at every ruck to keep the Wallabies on the back foot. Their pressure enabled Carter to thump over three penalties to one from Bernard Foley to make it 9-3 after half an hour. But it was a controversial lead. Referee Nigel Owens missed a clear forward pass by Milner- Skudder moments before penal- ising the Wallabies, and though 80,000 fans inside Twickenham and millions around the world could see it on replays, the strict TMO protocols prevented the officials from checking the inci- dent -- although they could have done had it led to a try instead of a penalty. Australia suffered another blow when they lost centre Matt Giteau to a head injury and their first-half misery was complet- ed when Conrad Smith, Aaron Smith and Richie McCaw fired the ball wide for Milner-Skud- der to score in the corner Carter converted for a 16-3 halftime lead and it took only two minutes of the second half for New Zealand to effectively put the game to bed. Sonny Bill Williams, on for Conrad Smith, delivered a trade- mark off load to Nonu and the centre tore through some soft defending and sprinted 30 me- tres to mark his 103rd and last New Zealand appearance with a killer try. Australia, as always, refused to lie down though and immedi- ately roared back into the attack. Smith was sin-binned for a tip- tackle on Drew Mitchell -- the first yellow card in a final -- and from the resulting penalty Aus- tralia drove over the line with Pocock the man at the bottom. Foley converted to make it 21- 10 with 28 minutes remaining. That spurred Australia into greater efforts and they got their second try after 63 min- utes when a probing kick by Will Genia bounced perfectly for Fo- ley who fed Kuridrani to slide over and with Foley slotting the conversion they were back with- in four points. The atmosphere at Twicken- ham rev ved, but once again it was the cool head of Carter who regained control. The f lyhalf, whose dropped goal in the semi-final against South Africa set in motion a mo- mentum shift that turned that match, slotted another despite being under huge pressure. Carter then applied the coup de grace with a 50-metre pen- alty to make it 27-17 with five minutes remaining. Australia attacked again but great defence kept them out and Ben Smith then kicked into space for the fresh-legged replacement winger Barrett to collect the ball and score under the posts. The New Zealand bench erupt- ed, celebrating their third tri- umph after 1987 and 2011, and their first on foreign soil. "It's a great way to finish," said their coach Steve Hansen of Carter's orchestration of the win. "You couldn't script it any better." Captain Richie McCaw of New Zealand holds up the Webb Ellis Cup after winning the Rugby World Cup Final against Australia at Twickenham in London