Arab Times

Two off for WBA, Bournemout­h bounce on

Moult at the double as Well shock Celtic

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WEST BROMWICH, United Kingdom, Dec 19, (AFP): James McClean and Salomon Rondon were sent off for West Bromwich Albion as Bournemout­h claimed a third straight Premier League victory with a 2-1 away win on Saturday.

Hot-tempered Irish winger McClean saw red for a rash 34th-minute foul on Adam Smith, who put Bournemout­h ahead early in the second half at The Hawthorns.

Gareth McAuley levelled with a header, but left-back Charlie Daniels’s emphatic 87th-minute penalty gave Bournemout­h victory before Rondon was sent off following an altercatio­n with Smith.

Having beaten Chelsea and Manchester United on their two previous outings, Eddie Howe’s Bournemout­h tasted top-flight victory for the third game running — a first since promotion in May.

Unbeaten in five league games, having lost the previous four, they are now just a point below Tony Pulis’s West Brom, who have gone four games without a win and remain 13th.

Howe submitted an unchanged team, but Josh King, the match-winner against United, injured his hamstring in the warm-up, which saw Glenn Murray, scorer of the winning goal at Chelsea, come into the starting XI.

There were early chances for both teams, West Brom goalkeeper Boaz Myhill parrying from Junior Stanislas and James Morrison forcing Artur Boruc to scramble at the other end with a dipping half-volley.

Murray also had a shot deflected behind, but there was little to separate the teams until the red mist descended for McClean.

The Republic of Ireland winger completely cleaned out Smith with a wild, dangerous challenge and referee Mike Dean immediatel­y brandished the red card.

Bournemout­h are not a team who need encouragem­ent to attack and they quickly sought to exploit their numerical advantage, Murray testing Myhill and Matt Ritchie heading Stanislas’s cross wide from six yards.

West Brom threatened to go ahead early in the second half when Rondon’s volley was tipped over by Boruc, but it was the visitors who drew first blood as Smith ran across the box before drilling home a low shot.

The 10 men levelled with 11 minutes left, McAuley flicking in a near-post header from a corner, and Craig Dawson should have put them ahead when he headed wide from Craig Gardner’s free-kick.

Instead it was Bournemout­h who took the points, Daniels slamming a penalty home after Darren Fletcher was adjudged to have fouled Dan Gosling right on the edge of the area.

Venezuelan striker Rondon compounded West Brom’s frustratio­n in stoppage time when he was sent off

West Bromwich Albion’s James McClean (right), and Bournemout­h’s Adam Smith battle for the ball during the English Premier League soccer match at The Hawthorns, West Bromwich,

England, Dec 19. (AP)

after fouling Gosling and then leaning his head towards Smith’s in the ensuing stramash.

Celtic’s lead at the top of the Scottish Premiershi­p has been cut to one point as Motherwell came from behind to claim a deserved 2-1 win at Celtic Park.

An entertaini­ng second half saw Nir Bitton’s deflected shot give Celtic a 49th minute lead before Louis Moult slammed home an equaliser for Motherwell four minutes later.

Scott McDonald came back to haunt his former club as the Australian striker earned Motherwell a 59th minute penalty that Moult expertly despatched past Craig Gordon.

Celtic had efforts from Bitton and Mikel Lustig cleared off the line while Motherwell had several chances to add to their advantage as they held on for their first win at Celtic Park since 2008.

Aberdeen’s 4-0 demolition of Kilmarnock moves them to within a the line by Jozo Simunovic.

The second-half started in explosive fashion as Lionel Ainsworth blew a golden chance to give Motherwell the lead.

Callum McGregor’s attempted clearance came back off Ainsworth who raced clean through on goal but the half-time substitute opted to go for a chip that landed on the roof of the net.

Motherwell were left to rue that miss moments later as Bitton opened the scoring for Celtic.

Jose Mourinho sought solace after his Chelsea sacking by arranging a reunion with old friend Aitor Karanka, whose Middlesbro­ugh team swept to the top of the Championsh­ip with a 3-0 win at Brighton on Saturday.

Just 48 hours after his abrupt departure from the struggling Premier League champions, Mourinho showed no signs of wanting to hide from the spotlight as he made the trip to the south-coast to meet up with Karanka.

The Spaniard became a trusted ally when he worked as Mourinho’s assistant at Real Madrid for three years and the chance to see a friendly face clearly appealed to the former Chelsea boss after he spent months battling with dressing room dissent at Stamford Bridge.

While Chelsea were cruising to a 3-1 win over Sunderland in front of their new interim manager Guus Hiddink, Mourinho brought some good luck to Karanka as Middlesbro­ugh ended Brighton’s club record run of 22 league matches without defeat.

First-half goals from Kike and Albert Adomah put Middlesbro­ugh on their way to their eighth win in their last 10 league games.

Cristhian Stuani sealed the victory midway through the second half at the Amex Stadium with his ninth goal of the season.

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