Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/747633
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 NOVEMBER 2016 55 Sport FOOTBALL TENNIS Five-star Chelsea hammer Everton to go top Chelsea took advantage of Man City's slip to take top spot AN Eden Hazard double inspired a brilliant Chelsea to the summit of the Premier League follow- ing an emphatic 5-0 victory over Everton on Saturday night. Marcos Alonso, Diego Cos- ta and Pedro were also on the scoresheet in a crushing per- formance from Antonio Conte's side at Stamford Bridge. Following Manchester City's surprise 1-1 draw against Mid- dlesbrough, the Blues are now back on top of the table for the first time since they were crowned champions in 2015. Pep Guardiola's side were the only one of the Premier League's top three heading into the week- end in action on Saturday and looked to have scooped maxi- mum points, albeit narrowly, thanks to Sergio Aguero's effort just before half-time - his 150th for the club. But there was a sting in the tail. The game had already ticked in- to injury-time when Marten de Roon's powerful header defeated Claudio Bravo, punishing City for not extending their lead and opening the door for Arsenal and Liverpool on Sunday. At the other end of the table there was blessed relief for bot- tom side Sunderland and their under-fire manager David Moyes at the Vitality Stadium. After putting together the worst start to a Premier League season, taking two points from their first 10 matches, the Black Cats finally claimed victory at the 11th time of asking with a 2-1 success at Bournemouth. Things were far from straight- forward, the Cherries taking an early lead through Dan Gosling and Sunderland's Steven Pienaar was sent off after the scores were tied through Victor Anichebe. But 10-man Sunderland battled for a result they sorely needed and took the points thanks to Jermain Defoe's penalty in the 74th minute. At Turf Moor another last-gasp winner handed Burnley three points and a 3-2 win over Crystal Palace. Sam Vokes netted inside two minutes and the Clarets doubled their lead with less than a quar- ter-of-an-hour gone, Johann Berg Gudmundsson hitting the target. Palace fashioned a comeback when Connor Wickham scored with his first touch and Chris- tian Benteke levelled from the penalty spot. But Ashley Barnes won it for Burnley in added time, lifting his side into the top half and con- demning Palace to a fourth suc- cessive defeat. Stoke made it six games un- beaten with a 1-1 draw at West Ham. The Hammers broke the dead- lock in the 65th minute, Glenn Whelan with an own-goal that was initially awarded to Michail Antonio - but Stoke levelled 10 minutes later. Bojan Krcic was on hand with the finish, his first since August 20. Chelsea are top after a thumping win over Everton Murray is new world No. 1 after Raonic withdraws AFTER all the battles and hard graft chas- ing the world number one spot, Briton Andy Murray arrived there without hit- ting a ball on Saturday as Milos Raonic pulled out of their Paris Masters semi- final due to a leg injury. The triple grand slam winner, who will take over from Serb Novak Djokovic at the top when the rankings are updated on Monday, still went out on centre court for a practice session in front of a bemused crowd. "I never thought I'd be No. 1 in the world and never, never imagined that was some- thing that was going to happen," Murray told a news conference. Fourth seeded Canadian Raonic ex- plained his injury. "Yesterday at I believe 4-2 in the first set I started feeling some pain in my leg," he said, referring to his match against French- man Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. "I didn't think too much of it at that point. I had an MRI half an hour ago...they found that I have a grade one tear in the right quadriceps." Raonic is now doubtful for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals to be held in London from Nov. 13-20. "I still have the possibility of making it but I was told five to 10 days so I'm on the border- line," he said. Murray is the first Briton to get to number one and, at 29 years and 174 days, he will be the oldest player to reach the sum- mit for the first time since Aus- tralian John Newcombe in 1974. Djokovic, number one for 122 weeks since July 2014, was knocked out in the quarter-finals by ninth seed Marin Cilic on Friday. Croat Cilic lost 6-4 6-3 to American John Isner in the semi-finals on Saturday. Isner broke in the ninth game of the first set and served three aces in a row as he saved a break point in the second to down Cilic, who appeared to lack focus a day after eliminating Djokovic. Isner became the player to serve the most aces this year - 1,133 - as he claimed his first victory over Cilic in seven matches. "I took the court today with a lot of con- fidence. It's the first time all year coming into a match I'd won four matches in a row," Isner told a news conference. "So I knew I was playing well. I knew I was playing the right way, and really, from the get-go, I was serving extremely well. That took a lot of pressure off me. "I was just taking my cuts from the back of the court. Returning pretty well, returning aggressively. I certainly put it all together today. It was the best match I have played all year." Andy Murray