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GUYANA CHRONICLE Monday, May 1, 2017
Chelsea remain on course for Premier League title … Spurs beat Arsenal 2-0
By Steve Tongue LONDON,(Reuters)-Chelsea remain on course for the Premier League title after a 3-0 win at Everton left them four points clear of second-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who beat local rivals Arsenal 2-0 on Sunday. Goals by Pedro, Gary Cahill and Willian gave Antonio Conte’s Chelsea side a comfortable win in the end but the Spurs team they beat 4-2 in the FA Cup semi-final last weekend are showing remarkable resilience in the league. In particular, Tottenham know they can rely for regular goals on England pair Harry Kane and Dele Alli, who have close to 50 between them this season with 27 and 21 respectively. A cool finish from each
-- Kane’s coming from the penalty spot after he had been fouled – was too much for Arsenal, whose chances of finishing in the top four to claim their usual Champions League place were badly diminished as a result. Spurs, chasing their first English championship since 1961, can close the gap on the leaders to one point if they can win a third successive London derby away to West Ham United on Friday. Victory over their greatest rivals Arsenal to follow a late success at Crystal Palace in midweek means a 10th straight league win in a row would put pressure on Londoners Chelsea. The leaders do not play until next Monday and, although Conte’s side will expect to beat second-bottom
Chelsea’s Pedro scores their first goal Reuters / Phil Noble Livepic
Middlesbrough, their visitors are desperate for points and can see a way out of the relegation mire after recent improved performances. Chelsea’s players and staff -- elated after winning at
Goodison Park -- must have been disappointed as they monitored the North London derby on the way back from Everton that Arsenal could not make a better fist of the game at White Hart Lane.
Draws for the two Manchester clubs earlier in the day should have given Arsenal added incentive but they were easily beaten and will finish below Spurs for the first time in 22 years.
United suffered another of the home draws that have blighted their first season under Jose Mourinho when relegation-threatened Swansea City salvaged a 1-1 draw, Gylfi Sigurdsson’s fine free kick equalising a controversial Wayne Rooney penalty. City, meanwhile, needed a late equaliser by Gabriel Jesus to earn a 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough. They were twice behind and missed a chance to go above Liverpool who can move a provisional three points clear of them with a win at Watford on Monday. With what look like three winnable games after that, Liverpool could finish strongly, but it is only Tottenham who can prevent Chelsea’s animated Italian coach Conte from taking the title in his first season of English football.
wins in Russia Nadal eases to 10th Barcelona Open title Bottas for his first F1 victory By Alan Baldwin |
Rafael Nadal bites the trophy. REUTERS/Albert Gea
By Richard Martin BARCELONA,(Reuters)-Rafael Nadal won a record-extending 10th Barcelona Open tennis title on Sunday by thrashing Dominic Thiem of Austria 6-4 6-1, collecting his second claycourt title in a row. Nadal, who won the Monte Carlo Masters for a 10th time last week, romped to the title without dropping a set on the newly renamed Rafa Nadal court at the Real Tennis Club in Barcelona, and needed just 90 minutes to finish off Thiem. Thiem had beaten the 14-times Grand Slam champion on clay in the Argentina Open last year and earned a place in the final by beating world number one Andy Mur-
ray for the first time in his career on Saturday, but he proved no match for Nadal. The Mallorcan took a while to impose himself on Thiem on an overcast day in Barcelona with the cold weather slowing down the court. Thiem earned the first breakpoint of the match but Nadal recovered and eventually took the first set by breaking his opponent in the 10th game. There was no let-up in the second set from Nadal, who broke the 23-year-old Austrian twice in a row before serving for the championship and wrapping up his 51st tournament win on clay. “I’m especially happy for these 10 victories in two tournaments that are
as special to me as Monte Carlo and Barcelona, especially here as it’s my club, and for the support of these incredible fans,” Nadal told Spanish network TVE. “It’s a dream start to the claycourt season.” Thiem paid tribute to his opponent after Nadal’s 71st tournament win in his career. “First of all congrats to Rafa, 10 titles here and in Monte Carlo, it’s unbelievable,” he said. “I really enjoyed the week in Barcelona. There are worse things than to lose against the greatest player on clay ever. I enjoyed it even though I lost and I really hope I can come back in the next years.”
SOCHI, Russia- (Reuters)-Finland’s Valtteri Bottas celebrated the first Formula One victory of his career at the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday after jumping both Ferraris at the start and then holding his nerve over the tense closing laps. Championship leader Sebastian Vettel, who had started on pole position alongside Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen, extended his advantage to 13 points with second place after putting Bottas under huge pressure at the finish. The German crossed the line just 0.6 seconds behind a man who joined Mercedes from Williams in January as replacement for retired 2016 champion Nico Rosberg and was finally a winner after 81 starts. “Took quite a while, huh?,” said the Finn over the radio as he took the chequered flag, an expletive bleeped out for the listening world as he whooped in a rare outburst of emotion. “Worth
the wait.” “This strange opportunity came over the winter to join this team and I have to thank the team for making this possible,” he added after meeting Russian president Vladimir Putin before spraying champagne on the podium. “First win and hopefully first of many... it’s a good feeling.” It was the first time in four years, since Raikkonen won with Lotus in Australia in 2013, that a Finnish driver had stood on the top step. Raikkonen made it two Finns in the top three with Britain’s Lewis Hamilton, Vettel’s closest rival, struggling to match the leaders’ pace and finishing fourth for Mercedes. Vettel now has 86 points after the opening four races with triple champion Hamilton, a winner in China, second on 73 and Bottas third with 63. Mercedes continued their record of winning every Russian Grand Prix since the first in 2014, this time against the odds after Ferrari had swept the
Mercedes Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland celebrates the victory on the podium. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
front row for the first time in nine years. But their proud boast of also leading every lap around the Olympic Park circuit disappeared when Vettel briefly led following Bottas’s first pitstop. After an aborted start, with Fernando Alonso’s McLaren breaking down on the formation lap, Bottas seized the lead from third on the grid. The safety car was then deployed after a collision between Renault’s Jolyon Palmer and Haas’s Romain Grosjean put both out, and the race settled down into a procession before the nail-biting finale. “I tried everything to catch Valtteri. I thought there would be an opportunity on the back straight,” said Vettel, winner of two of the first three races for his resurgent Italian team. “I thought there was an opportunity but I was not sure what Felipe Massa would do and ended up losing out,” he added, with the Williams driver delaying him at a key point in the chase. “It doesn’t matter, though. Big congratulations to Valtteri. It is his day.” Red Bull’s Dutch teenager Max Verstappen finished fifth with Sergio Perez chalking up his 14th successive points finish for Force India and French team mate Esteban Ocon seventh. Nico Hulkenberg was eighth for Renault, with Massa ninth for Williams and Spaniard Carlos Sainz taking the final point for Toro Rosso. Canadian rookie Lance Stroll finally reached the finish line after three retirements in a row and took 11th place for Williams.