19
MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012
SPORTS
Spurs sink Fulham to take fourth spot Tottenham 2
Fulham 0
LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur secured fourth place in the Premier League with a 2-0 victory over Fulham at White Hart Lane thanks to goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermain Defoe on the final day. Harry Redknapp’s side will have to wait to discover if they are to play in the Champions League next season, however, as a Chelsea victory against Bayern Munich in the final of this year’s competition will force them to compete in the
Europa League instead. England is allowed no more than four participants in the Champions League and sixth-place Chelsea would claim the last position at the expense of the Premier League’s fourth-place club should they win in Munich on May 19. Tottenham supporters will be sure to be cheering on Bayern on Saturday, having enjoyed this victory and news that Newcastle United-who could have overtaken them if Fulham had got a resulthad lost at Everton. Third place, and a guaranteed Champions League slot, had also been within Tottenham’s grasp but neighbours Arsenal came from behind to win at West Bromwich Albion to claim that. The defeat condemned Fulham to a ninth-place finish, which will not disappoint manager Martin Jol too much. Beforehand, injury had robbed
EPL results/standings Chelsea 2 (Terry 31, Meireles 34) Blackburn 1 (Yakubu 60); Everton 3 (Pienaar 16, Jelavic 27, Heitinga 65) Newcastle 1 (Hibbert 73-og); Man City 3 (Zabaleta 39, Dzeko 90+2, Aguero 90+4) QPR 2 (Cisse 48, Mackie 66); Norwich 2 (Holt 8, Jackson 21) Aston Villa 0; Stoke 2 (Walters 13, 77pen) Bolton 2 (M.Davies 39, K.Davies 45); Sunderland 0, Man Utd 1 (Rooney 20); Swansea 1 (Graham 86) Liverpool 0; Tottenham 2 (Adebayor 2, Defoe 63) Fulham 0; West Brom 2 (Long 11, Dorrans 15) Arsenal 3 (Benayoun 4, Santos 30, Koscielny 54); Wigan 3 (Di Santo 12, Boyce 14, 79) Wolves 2 (Jarvis 9, Fletcher 86). English Premier League table after yesterday’s matches on the final day of the season (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Man City
38 28
Man Utd Arsenal Tottenham Newcastle Chelsea Everton Liverpool Fulham West Brom Swansea
38 38 38 38 38 38 38 38 38 38
28 21 20 19 18 15 14 14 13 12
5
5
5 7 9 8 10 11 10 10 8 11
5 10 9 11 10 12 14 14 17 15
93 29 89 — champions 89 33 89 74 49 70 66 41 69 56 51 65 65 46 64 50 40 56 47 40 52 48 51 52 45 52 47 44 51 47
Norwich Sunderland Stoke Wigan Aston Villa QPR Bolton
38 38 38 38 38 38 38
12 11 11 11 7 10 10
11 12 12 10 17 7 6
15 15 15 17 14 21 22
Blackburn
38
8
Wolves
38
5 10 23
7 23
52 66 47 45 46 45 36 53 45 42 62 43 37 53 38 43 66 37 46 77 36 — relegated 48 78 31 — relegated 40 82 25 — relegated
Chelsea sign off with victory over Rovers Chelsea 2
Blackburn 1
LONDON: Chelsea will head off to the Champions League final in good heart after rounding off their Premier League campaign with a 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Stamford Bridge. First-half goals from John Terry and Raul Meireles — both suspended for the meeting with Bayern Munich - put Roberto Di Matteo’s side in control. Ayegbeni Yakubu’s second-half strike briefly gave relegated Blackburn hope they might end a disastrous season with an unexpected point but their efforts quickly faded. That allowed Chelsea to run down the clock without exerting themselves as they secured a sixth place finish - ensuring they must win the Champions League to secure a place in next season’s competition. With victory assured, the only concern for Blues caretaker manager Di Matteo was the injury sustained by Florent Malouda in the first half. The midfielder was withdrawn with a minor hamstring injury and Di Matteo will hope the France international recovers quickly. This was a game both sides would have happily done without. Chelsea’s minds are understandably elsewhere while Blackburn’s relegation last week meant the end of the season couldn’t come quickly enough. Di Matteo’s team sheet reflected the fact that in terms of personnel, this was an exercise in damage limitation ahead of the trip to Munich. Terry and Meireles were joined by Ramires and Branislav Ivanovic, the other two members of Di Matteo’s squad who will watch from the stands in the Allianz Arena. Of the other seven starters, only Malouda,
Daniel Sturridge and Michael Essien had any chance of forcing the manager into a change of plan before next Saturday. For Blackburn, goalkeeper Jake Kean was given his debut in place of injured Paul Robinson and Rovers attempted to sign off from the Premier League on a high. It quickly because apparent there was little chance of that happening. Jason Lowe saw an early sot tipped over but that was the last meaningful attack from the visitors as Chelsea confirmed they were intent of rounding off the domestic campaign in style. The opening goal came when Romelu Lukaku drifted out of the central striker position to deliver a 31st minute cross that was met with a powerful header from Terry. Three minutes later Meireles looked as though he had made the game safe when he converted after good work by Essien. The Ghana midfielder has struggled to find anything like his best form since returning from a serious knee injury earlier this season. But he created the second goal with a powerful run off the right hand flank and into the area before squaring the ball to Meireles who drove a low shot beyond Kean from the edge of the area. Di Matteo surprisingly introduced Didier Drogba early on in the second half and the home crowd immediately made it clear they want the forward to remain at the club. Drogba is out of contract at the end of the season and negotiations about a new deal have so far stalled with the club unwilling to meet the 34-year-old’s demands for a two-year deal. Blackburn forced their way back into the game on the hour when Yakubu halved the deficit. The Nigeria forward has been one of Blackburn’s few success stories this season and he netted his 17th goal of the season when he diverted Scott Dann’s header home after Morten Gamst Pedersen had delivered a corner from the left flank. There was little risk of Rovers forcing a second goal and Di Matteo introduced Fernando Torres to increase the pressure on the visitors. Ramires came close to adding a third with a lob from outside the area after a poor Blackburn clearance.—AFP
Tottenham of England internationals Scott Parker and Ledley King, but Fulham’s top performer of the season, USA international Clint Dempsey, was also missing. It took Tottenham just 96 seconds to open the scoring through Adebayor, who received the ball near the touchline and played a one-two with Rafael van der Vaart on the left of the Fulham penalty area before calmly slotting past goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer. Confirmation that Arsenal had suddenly fallen behind in the West Midlands stoked the atmosphere even further before van der Vaart was inches away from connecting with Aaron Lennon’s cross from the left. Van der Vaart was just wide with his next attempt, a shot on the turn after Adebayor had set him up following good work down the right by Lennon.
It took Fulham 37 minutes to fashion a chance but when it arrived it was a good one with John Arne Riise bursting forward, beating Sandro and forcing goalkeeper Brad Friedel into a save. Seconds later Friedel had to make another one, diving to beat away Moussa Dembele’s drive and William Gallas was first to the loose ball to clear. The half ended with Tottenham’s Kyle Walker hobbling after a heavy challenge and Gareth Bale having two attempts to double the lead. The first produced a fine parry from Schwarzer, while the second ended in the stands. England right-back Walker had already been playing with a broken toe but was able to hobble back on for the start of the second half. He lasted all of three minutes, however, with Ryan Nelsen coming on to replace him. Schwarzer was called into
Arsenal seal third place West Brom 2
Arsenal 3
BIRMINGHAM: Arsenal sealed third place in the Premier League and a guaranteed spot in next season’s Champions League as a pair of blunders by goalkeeper Marton Fulop sealed a 3-2 victory at West Bromwich Albion yesterday. A mistake from Fulop, only in the side because of an injury to Ben Foster, allowed Yossi Benayoun to hand the Gunners an early lead but the Baggies responded with goals from Shane Long and Graham Dorrans. Andre Santos’ strike shortly before half-time pulled Arsene Wenger’s side level and Laurent Koscielny capitalised on another Fulop error to earn the most slender of victories in a pulsating finalday encounter. The win ensured Arsenal held onto third, a place and a point above north London rivals Tottenham, who now face a tense wait to see if Chelsea win next weekend’s Champions League final against Bayern Munich-which would rob Spurs of a spot in Europe’s elite club competition. It was a disappointing end to a superb 16-month spell with the Baggies for boss Roy Hodgson, who expressed his gratitude to fans in his programme notes as he now turns his attention to leading England into Euro 2012. There was no place in the Albion line-up for Foster in what was the final game of his loan spell from Birmingham after the goalkeeper picked up a suspected groin injury in training on Saturday. It meant a Baggies Premier League debut for understudy Fulop
LONDON: West Bromwich Albion’s Marc-Antoine Fortune (center) vies with Arsenal’s Carl Jenkinson (right) and Yossi Benayoun during an English Premier League football match. —AFP and his worst nightmares were realised within four minutes. In an attempt to dispossess Robin van Persie, James Morrison stabbed the ball back towards his own goal, however Fulop’s attempts to usher it into his area ended in disaster as he stumbled to leave Benayoun with goal at his mercy. Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was more solid and did well to turn away a vicious low drive from Marc-Antoine Fortune which threatened to creep inside his near post away for a corner. However, the Baggies only had to wait until the 12th minute for their leveller. Morrison dissected the Gunners defence with a threaded through pass and Long, who appeared to be left onside by Carl Jenkinson, strode through to steer
Swansea 1
Liverpool 0
SWANSEA: Liverpool’s miserable Premier League campaign ended on a suitably low note as Danny Graham’s late goal gave Swansea a 1-0 win at the Liberty Stadium yesterday. Reds boss Kenny Dalglish has already had to deal with reports that he faces a fight to save his job after an underwhelming league campaign and this lacklustre effort was hardly a ringing endorsement of his reign. The club’s American owners will conduct a wide-ranging review of Liverpool’s season, which started with hopes of challenging for a top-four finish but ended with the team languishing in eighth spot. Liverpool couldn’t even take the slender consolation of finishing above Everton, who ended up four points above their Merseyside rivals. Winning the League Cup against Championship club Cardiff at least ended the club’s wait for silverware, but that was followed by a tepid performance in the FA Cup final defeat against Chelsea. Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers had encouraged the home fans to turn
a precise shot low into the left corner. Then, three minutes later the game was turned upside down, as the Baggies moved ahead. Morrison was responsible for another fine assist as Dorrans headed his Scotland team-mate’s clipped pass to his right to evade Jenkinson and Koscielny before planting a superb half-volley low beyond Szczesny. Wenger struggled to hide his frustration on the touchline but the Gunners levelled on the half-hour mark. Youssouf Mulumbu was dispossessed by Alex Song midway in the Baggies half and he fed Santos, who outfoxed Simon Cox before unleashing a stinging low shot which Fulop’s outstretched hand was unable to prevent creeping inside his right post. Theo Walcott was introduced in
place of Tomas Rosicky upon the resumption and within 10 minutes the Gunners were ahead again courtesy of another calamitous error from Fulop. Van Persie’s corner looked routine enough for the Baggies goalkeeper, yet he somehow managed to punch the ball behind him to allow Koscielny to scramble home the Gunners’ third - much to the frustration of his Albion teammates. Wenger will desperately hope this was not Van Persie’s final appearance in a Gunners shirt, yet although the skipper did not add another goal to his tally for the season he did make a telling contribution when he hooked a Jonas Olsson header off the line as West Brom sought another equaliser.—AFP
Bolton relegated after Stoke draw Stoke 2
Bolton 2
Liverpool end on low note up in Elvis Presley costumes to celebrate their survival after one critic suggested there was more chance of a sighting of the deceased singer than Swansea staying up. The party mood inspired the hosts and Graham came close to giving them an eighth-minute lead but could not convert Joe Allen’s cross-shot after the midfielder had robbed Jonjo Shelvey. Maxi Rodriguez was off target with a half-hearted effort for the visitors but the majority of the action was taking place in the Liverpool half. Gylfi Sigurdsson was left unmarked at a corner and almost swept home from Allen’s pinpoint delivery but his effort was bravely blocked by the onrushing Liverpool defence. Sigurdsson was brilliantly denied by Doni in the 32nd minute, as the Iceland international intelligently struck a free-kick across the Liverpool wall, but the Brazilian showed lightning reactions to tip the ball round the post. Andy Carroll wasted Liverpool’s best chance when he fired narrowly over Vorm’s bar five minutes before the break. Carroll’s increasing frustration was clear to see and he was involved in a tussle with Ashley Williams which earned the pair bookings. Dalglish sent his players out early for the second half. Initially his team-talk seemed to have the desired response as Carroll’s far-post header was diverted to safety off Steven Caulker’s back before the England forward produced a brilliant overhead kick that Vorm matched with an agile stop.—AFP
action again to claim a header from Sandro after Lennon again made headway down the right of the Fulham penalty area. The Australia international then denied Adebayor, although Fulham were awarded a free-kick for the Togo striker’s earlier challenge on Aaron Hughes, which left the Fulham defender on the floor. But White Hart Lane went quiet as the supporters digested news that Arsenal were now winning. Tottenham hearts were in mouths when Dembele fired in a fierce low drive but that flew wide and Tottenham then made another change, with Defoe replacing van der Vaart on the hour. Within two minutes Defoe had fired Tottenham 2-0 ahead. Lennon’s shot was deflected by a defender but only into the striker’s path and he stuck out a leg to find the bottom corner.—AFP
LONDON: Stoke City’s Jonathan Walters (left) scores past Bolton Wanderers’ Adam Bogdan during the English Premier League soccer match. —AP
LONDON: Bolton were relegated from the Premier League after a 2-2 draw against Stoke ended their 11year stay in the top-flight. Owen Coyle’s side needed a victory at the Britannia Stadium and a QPR defeat against Manchester City to climb out of the bottom three on the final day of the season. But they were unable to complete their half of the job and a painful campaign, marred by Fabrice Muamba’s cardiac arrest and serious injuries to key players, ended with the cruellest blow of all. With QPR beaten by two late City goals, Wanderers would have survived if they had held onto a 2-1 half-time lead secured by goals from Mark Davies and Kevin Davies after Jonathan Walters put the hosts ahead. But Walters equalised from the penalty spot 13 minutes from time and Bolton couldn’t find a winner as they sunk into the Championship, finishing third bottom and one point behind QPR. Stoke were quick to test Bolton’s nerves and Ricardo Fuller twisted and turned on the edge of the penalty area before firing in a shot that Adam Bogdan pushed round his near post. Peter Crouch then fired wide from a tight angle while Matthew Etherington had a shot saved by Bogdan, and the Hungarian keeper was at the centre of the drama when Stoke opened the scoring in controversial fashion in the 13th minute. Etherington crossed for Walters,
who appeared to have taken too heavy a touch in front of goal, but the striker then headed the ball into the net seemingly out of Bogdan’s hands and referee Chris Foy awarded the goal. Stoke were causing Bolton all sorts of problems and Walters might have made it two when he turned neatly on the penalty spot but he curled his shot wide of the post. The visitors had offered little going forward but they came within inches of scoring twice in the 32nd minute, first when Kevin Davies hit the bar with a looping header before Ivan Klasnic followed up with a sweet volley that Thomas Sorensen somehow tipped round the post. And Bolton finally enjoyed a lucky break to equalise in the 40th minute. A long ball from Bogdan was not well dealt with and Klasnic played in Mark Davies. The ball looked to have got away from the midfielder but Robert Huth smashed his attempted clearance against Davies’ legs and it flew into the net. Remarkably five minutes later Bolton were ahead, again in unusual circumstances. Kevin Davies mis-hit his cross from the right but Sorensen was badly caught out and could only help the ball into the net at his near post. Martin Petrov came within inches of giving Bolton a crucial third goal when he was played in by Mark Davies, but the winger’s shot flashed just past the post. But Bolton’s hopes suffered another huge blow in the 77th minute when Bogdan conceded a penalty by fouling Peter Crouch, having initially saved the England man’s shot, and Walters made no mistake from the spot. Bolton piled forward in a desperate attempt to beat the drop, but the closest they came was a Tim Ream header from Petrov’s corner that was grasped by Sorensen.—AFP