Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/627675
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 JANUARY 2016 49 Sport FOOTBALL Manchester City cruise to victory LEICESTER returned to the top of the Barclays Premier League despite being held to a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa. Rudy Gestede rescued a point for the rock-bottom hosts and denied the Foxes the chance to move fur- ther clear at the summit. Shinji Okazaki opened the scoring but Mark Bunn saved Riyad Mah- rez's first-half penalty and the Foxes were made to pay. Arsenal will overtake Claudio Ranieri's side on goal difference with a draw at Stoke on Sunday with the Foxes a point ahead of the Gunners and Manchester City in their im- probable title challenge. The draw left battling Villa nine points from safety but boss Remi Garde can at least highlight im- proved performances in what seems like a futile struggle against the drop. Sergio Aguero's brace helped Man- chester City thrash Crystal Palace 4-0 earlier on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium. Fabian Delph opened the scoring with a shot in the 22nd minute that Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennes- sey should have done better with. Aguero then took his tally for the season to 13 goals with a deflected effort just prior to half-time. He fin- ished a fine team move in the 68th minute, before teeing up David Silva to wrap things up six minutes from time. Struggling champions Chelsea sal- vaged a point in dramatic circum- stances from a thrilling clash with Everton as John Terry controversial- ly made it 3-3 in the 98th minute at Stamford Bridge. The home side were 2-0 down early in the second half thanks to a Terry own-goal and Kevin Mirallas' strike six minutes apart, but within 10 minutes of that they were level courtesy of quickfire efforts from Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas. Everton substitute Ramiro Funes Mori scored what looked set to be the winner in the 90th minute, but the stoppage time that then fol- lowed - so lengthy due to an injury sustained earlier by Bryan Oviedo - concluded with Terry's equaliser, over which there was a suspicion of offside. Newcastle moved out of the relega- tion places with a 2-1 home win over West Ham in which new recruit Jonjo Shelvey proved key. The midfielder, making his Mag- pies debut after joining from Swan- sea, was involved in the build-up for both goals as Ayoze Perez and Georginio Wijnaldum put the hosts 2-0 up inside the opening 15 min- utes. Substitute Nikica Jelavic pulled one back for the Hammers shortly after the interval, but Newcastle held out and rose to 17th, two points clear of the drop zone as Swansea sunk to 18th. Bournemouth are now five points clear of the bottom three having seen off fellow strugglers Norwich 3-0 at home. The Cherries traded places with the Canaries, moving up to 15th, after Dan Gosling's early header, Charlie Daniels' penalty and a first goal for the club for Benik Afobe sealed a comfortable victory. Southampton are up to 10th fol- lowing a 3-0 home win over West Brom, which was watched by new Saints signing Charlie Austin. James Ward-Prowse notched a first-half brace with a fine free-kick and then a penalty before substitute Dusan Tadic put the matter beyond any doubt with just under 20 min- utes left. In the day's early kick-off, Totten- ham consolidated their place in the top four as they came from behind to win 4-1 at White Hart Lane against Sunderland, whose new signing Jan Kirchhoff endured a debut to forget. Spurs trailed to Patrick van Aanholt's 40th-minute effort but equalised within two minutes, Lee Cattermole making a hash of trying to keep Christian Eriksen's shot out on the line. Defender Kirchhoff was intro- duced as a substitute in the 59th minute and saw Mousa Dembele give the hosts the lead within sec- onds, had Eriksen's shot loop in off him seven minutes later and then gave away a penalty with a tackle on Danny Rose which was converted by Harry Kane. Manchester City players celebrate their victory