Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/920426
maltatoday SUNDAY 31 DECEMBER 2017 47 Sports SPORTTODAY FOOTBALL England - Premier League AFC Bournemouth - Everton .................. 2-1 Chelsea - Stoke City ............................... 5-0 Huddersfield Town - Burnley ................. 0-0 Liverpool - Leicester City ........................ 2-1 Newcastle United - Br. & Hove Albion .... 0-0 Watford - Swansea City .......................... 1-2 Manchester United - Southampton ........ 0-0 Today 13:00 Crystal Palace - Manchester City 17:30 West Bromwich Albion - Arsenal Italy - Serie A Fiorentina - AC Milan ............................. 1-1 Atalanta - Cagliari .................................. 1-2 Benevento - ChievoVerona .................... 1-0 Bologna - Udinese ................................ 1-2 Roma - Sassuolo ................................... 1-1 Sampdoria - SPAL 2013 .......................... 2-0 Torino - Genoa ...................................... 0-0 Inter - Lazio ........................................... 0-0 Hellas Verona - Juventus ........................ Late Football Results & Fixtures Salah fires Liverpool to victory, Chelsea close gap at top MOHAMED Salah took his goal tally to 23 in all competitions with a second-half double to help Liv- erpool come from behind to beat Leicester City 2-1 at Anfield in the Premier League yesterday. Chelsea had no such struggles at home to Stoke City, with Mark Hughes' men thrashed 5-0 at Stam- ford Bridge, as the league's most porous defence again couldn't cope with their rampant hosts. Stoke have lost 14 Premier League games against Chelsea, more than they have against any other opponents in the competition. One of the performances of the day came at Vicarage Road where Swansea City netted two late goals to come from behind to beat Wat- ford and climb off the bottom of the table, as Carlos Carvalhal's tenure got off to a winning start. However, the spotlight once again was on Liverpool striker Salah, who continues to look unstoppable in front of goal. Jamie Vardy once again scored against a "big six" side after being picked out by Riyad Mahrez in the first half at Anfield, and Leices- ter held on until Salah took centre stage. Two neat second-half finishes took the Egypt international to 17 for the season, one behind Totten- ham Hotspur striker Harry Kane, with the goals sealing the victory that sees Liverpool move to 12 un- beaten in the league – their best run under Juergen Klopp – and opens up a four-point gap over Spurs in fifth. "He (Salah) can keep this stand- ard for sure, he's young, improving - it's not only about scoring goals," Klopp said. "He's so important for us. He knows and I know he couldn't score so many without the fantastic sup- port from the other boys. I think he can keep the standard." Four points ahead of Liverpool, Chelsea were out of sight after 23 minutes against Stoke with goals from Antonio Rudiger, Danny Drinkwater and Pedro putting the champions in command. Willian's second-half penalty and a Davide Zappacosta goal put the seal on a fourth win in five league games for Antonio Conte's men. "We know we must continue to work and improve, and prepare for a very difficult game against Ar- senal," said Conte, whose second- placed side are now 13 points be- hind leaders Manchester City. "Every win is important for us, today it was important to get three points to continue our positive run." There was plenty of move- ment down at the bottom of the table, with Swansea no longer prop- ping up the division after goals from Jordan Ayew and Luciano Narsingh in the final four minutes of the match cancelled out Andre Carrillo's opener for Watford to seal a first win for Carvalhal. Bournemouth were also big mov- ers, as two goals from Ryan Fraser ensured Eddie Howe's men climbed out of the bottom three and up to 13th after a 2-1 victory over Ever- ton, with Sam Allardyce tasting defeat for the first time as Everton manager. Newcastle missed their chance to climb clear of the relegation zone after being held to a 0-0 draw by Brighton at St James' Park, while Huddersfield and Burnley also played out a stalemate at the John Smith's Stadium. Mo Salah celebrates Chelsea celebrate after scoring against Stoke