He shoots, he scores ... from his own half
All Whites captain Winston Reid watched helplessly as Wayne Rooney sealed a hat-trick with a stunning goal from inside in his own half in Everton’s 4-0 win over West Ham United in the English Premier League yesterday.
It was Rooney’s first hat-trick for his boyhood club as Everton routed the Hammers with incoming manager Sam Allardyce watching on from the stands at Goodison Park.
His technique for the longdistance goal was perfect as Rooney struck the ball firm and true over a raft of West Ham defenders and stranded England keeper Joe Hart, who had inadvertently found the former England captain with a poor clearance.
Rooney had already scored twice, one from the penalty spot, on what proved to be a painful return for West Ham manager David Moyes, who spent 11 years in charge of Everton between 2002 and 2013. Ashley Williams scored the fourth goal as Everton moved five points clear of the relegation zone.
There was late drama at the Etihad Stadium where Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola burst on to the field with his fists clenched and leapt into the air to celebrate Raheem Sterling’s matchwinner five minutes into injury time.
In a wild finale that sparked an extraordinary explosion of joy from City’s players and coaching staff, Sterling curled home a lastgasp goal with virtually the last kick of the game to give the leaders a 2-1 victory over Southampton.
City re-established their eightpoint lead over second-place Manchester United thanks to a 12th straight league win. Late goals used to be United’s forte during the glory days under Alex Ferguson, but now it is City mastering the art of scoring the last-gasp winners.
In London, Mesut Ozil inspired Arsenal to a third straight Premier League win as Huddersfield Town were thrashed 5-0 at Emirates Stadium.
Alexander Lacazette opened the scoring after three minutes before Ozil took over the game, setting up goals for Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez and then adding a fourth himself - all in the space of four minutes. Giroud added his second to complete the rout as Arsenal climbed to fourth place.
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte was sent to the stands for the second half as his team beat Swansea 1-0. Conte was dismissed from the touchline by referee Neil Swarbrick moments before the interval after furiously protesting the awarding of a Swansea goal kick.
Antonio Rudiger scored the winner with a 55th-minute header. Chelsea stay 11 points behind City.
Mohamed Salah came off the bench to score twice in Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Stoke and make it 12 goals for the season for the Premier League’s leading scorer.
Sadio Mane opened the scoring for Liverpool, lofting the ball into the net as Stoke’s defenders claimed it had gone out of play earlier.
Burnley moved above Tottenham and into sixth place thanks to a 2-1 win at Bournemouth, with goals coming from All White Chris Wood and Robbie Brady.