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SPORTS A21
                                                                                                                                                                        Friday 15 January 2016

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Meeting of mediocrity as Liverpool hosts Man United in EPL

ROB HARRIS                       celebrated by Klopp and        lose. We showed char-           for Sunday’s game against                                          On Saturday, Arsenal’s
AP Sports Writer                 his squad almost like wins     acter and resilience and        Stoke.                                                             north London neighbor Tot-
LONDON (AP) — As English         — including Wednesday’s        we didn’t give up until the     “Arsenal is one of those                                           tenham faces Sunderland,
football’s most successful       3-3 comeback at home to        end of the game. It’s very      teams that everyone enjoys                                         which has signed striker
teams, Manchester Unit-          Arsenal.                       important that we keep          watching and of course I                                           Dame N’Doye on loan from
ed and Liverpool are the                                                                                                                                           Trabzonspor for the rest of
mainstays around the sum-                                                                                                                                          the season.The 30-year-old
mit of the league.                                                                                                                                                 Senegal international was
Rivals come and go but                                                                                                                                             previously at Hull, scoring
United and Liverpool are                                                                                                                                           five times in 15 appearanc-
always to be found among                                                                                                                                           es before moving to Turkey.
the chasing pack, at least,                                                                                                                                        “Having already played
for the top prize.                                                                                                                                                 in the Premier League, he
No longer.                                                                                                                                                         should have no problems in
When the northwest rivals                                                                                                                                          hitting the ground running,
play on Sunday at Anfield it                                                                                                                                       too, which is very important
will be a meeting of medi-                                                                                                                                         at this stage of the season,”
ocrity — by their standards.                                                                                                                                       Sunderland manager Sam
For the first time in 35 years,                                                                                                                                    Allardyce said.
the league could finish
without either United or         Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, left, celebrates his goal during the English Premier League                                     VARDY GOAL DROUGHT
Liverpool — who have 38          soccer match between Newcastle United and Manchester United at St James’ Park, Newcastle,                                         After setting a Premier
titles between them — in         England, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2015.                                                                                                  League record for scoring
the top four.                                                                                                                                                      in 11 consecutive games,
And it’s about cash, not                                                                                                                 (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)  injury-hit Jamie Vardy has
just symbolism. Finishing                                                                                                                                          failed to score for a fifth
outside the top four would       “There has been a big im-      things going at home.”          would love to play for such                                        consecutive match.
mean missing out on the          provement recently (in                                         a great team,” he said.                                            The 1-0 victory at Totten-
Champions League next            our mental strength) and       SQUAD ADDITIONS                 Elneny arrives after winning                                       ham on Wednesday was
season.                          that’s very important when     There’s halfway to go in the    three consecutive Swiss                                            secured by a rare goal from
With only one win in eight       you’re at a big club,” Liver-  January transfer window.        league titles at Basel, which                                      Robert Huth, on Vardy’s first
league matches, record           pool defender Kolo Toure       Having not signed an out-       he joined from El Mokaw-                                           game back from groin sur-
20-time champion Unit-           said. “You can’t ever give     field player in the summer      loon in Egypt.                                                     gery.
ed has dropped to sixth          up. When you refuse to lose    window, Arsenal recruited       Arsenal is seeking its first                                       “It difficult to say (when
place, two points behind         games, you often find your-    midfielder Mohamed Elne-        league title since 2004 but                                        he was last fit), it’s impor-
Tottenham in fourth. Liver-      self winning them.             ny on Thursday from Basel.      is only ahead of surprise                                          tant he continues to play,”
pool is three points behind      “It’s always important that    Arsenal expects the Egyp-       contender Leicester at the                                         Leicester manager Claudio
United in ninth after failing    if you don’t win, you don’t    tian to be registered in time   summit on goal difference.                                         Ranieri said ahead of Satur-
to achieve the uplift antici-                                                                                                                                      day’s game against Aston
pated in the three months                                                                                                                                          Villa. “If he doesn’t train
since hiring Juergen Klopp                                                                                                                                         very well, it’s important he
as manager.                                                                                                                                                        keeps going to play. The
While United’s draws have                                                                                                                                          match is like a training ses-
added to the pressure on                                                                                                                                           sion for him.
Louis van Gaal, Liverpool’s                                                                                                                                        “Jamie will start to make
scrambled comebacks to                                                                                                                                             training sessions with us,
rescue points have been                                                                                                                                            he’s getting better.” q

Atletico Madrid advances to Copa del Rey quarterfinals 

AP Sports Writer                 its last 15 games, while con-  a cross was deflected near      under the age of 18. The                                           feature defending cham-
MADRID (AP) — Angel Cor-         ceding only five goals.        the goal line, and followed     clubs can still sign players                                       pion Barcelona, last year’s
rea scored in the first half     Also Thursday, Gary Nev-       up by rounding the goal-        in the current window that                                         runner-up Athletic Bilbao,
and Antoine Griezmann            ille’s Valencia secured its    keeper and shooting into        ends in January, but after                                         Sevilla, Las Palmas, Celta
added two goals in the           spot in the quarters with an   an empty net just before        that they will have to wait                                        Vigo and second-division
second as Atletico Madrid        easy 3-0 win at Granada,       the final whistle.              until after the 2016-17 sea-                                       club Mirandes. The home-
defeated Rayo Valleca-           advancing 7-0 on aggre-        “Rayo did well in the first 20  son. Both teams said they                                          and-away games are ex-
no 3-0 to advance to the         gate. Atletico and Rayo        minutes, but we switched        will appeal. Valencia easily                                       pected to take place on
quarterfinals of the Copa        had drawn 1-1 in the first     to a 4-4-2 and were able        secured its spot in the quar-                                      Jan. 20 and 27. The draw
del Rey with a 4-1 aggre-        leg 1-1 last week, but the     to create more chanc-           ters with goals by Wilfried                                        will be on Friday.
gate victory on Thursday.        hosts were in control from     es,” Atletico coach Diego       Zahibo in the 42nd, Paco                                           “Most of the teams are in
Correa scored with a curl-       the start at the Vicente       Simeone said. The win           Alcacer in the 63rd and                                            the top half of the (Spanish
ing right-footed strike from     Calderon Stadium. Cor-         came hours after FIFA an-       Pablo Piatti in the 84th.                                          league) standings,” Sime-
just inside the area in the      rea’s powerful shot flew       nounced it was banning          “I’m happy overall with the                                        one said. “Any of the oppo-
40th minute, and Griez-          over the goalkeeper and        Atletico and Real Madrid        performance,” Neville said.                                        nents will be complicated.”
mann netted from close           ricocheted off the crossbar    from signing players in the     “We took advantage of                                              Real Madrid was elimi-
range in the 80th and in         before going in to give At-    next two transfer windows       our chances and scored                                             nated early in the tourna-
a counterattack in injury        letico the lead. Griezmann     because of breach in rules      the goals we needed.”                                              ment for using an ineligible
time. Atletico has won 13 of     flicked the ball home after    when registering players        The quarterfinals will also                                        player.q
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