Classy first-half goals keep Juventus top

MILAN: Two classy first-half goals gave Juventus a 2-1 win at Chievo yesterday, ensuring they kept their three-point lead at the top of Serie A, while Lazio and Inter Milan lost touch after losing to lowly opponents.
Alessandro Matri volleyed home after 10 minutes and Switzerland midfielder Stephan Lichtsteiner finished a well-worked move three minutes before halftime for Juventus while new signing Nicolas Anelka stayed on the bench.
Third-placed Lazio came from two goals behind to peg back Genoa at 2-2, Stefano Mauri levelling with a penalty eight minutes from time, but it was all in vain when Marco Rigoni won the game in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
Innocent Emeghara, Alessio Sestu and Alessandro Rosina, from a penalty, shared Siena’s goals in a 3-1 win over Inter, who replied through Antonio Cassano and had Cristian Chivu sent off in the 55th minute.
Defending champions Juventus restored their three-point lead after Napoli had briefly pulled level with a 2-0 win over Catania on Saturday. Juve have 52 points from 23 games while Lazio have 43 and Inter are fourth with 40.
Siena’s win took them off the bottom of the table on goal difference from Palermo who lost 2-1 at home to Atalanta.
Both teams have 17 points, three adrift of Pescara who twice led but lost 3-2 at home to Bologna in a game of three penalties.
Juventus, who had won only once in their previous four league games and were knocked out of the Italian Cup by Lazio in midweek, went ahead when Arturo Vidal sent a diagonal chip into the path of Matri who volleyed into the far corner.
Right wing-back Lichtsteiner popped up on the left of the penalty area to provide an emphatic finish after Matri rolled the ball to Sebastian Giovinco who teed up the Swiss with a clever backheel.
Cyril Thereau pulled one back for the Flying Donkeys early in the second half but Juventus, with coach Antonio Conte barred from the touchline for his furious outburst over the refereeing against Genoa last week, held out comfortably.
Bale rocket saves
Spurs’ blushes in win
at West Brom
Tottenham Hotspur winger Gareth Bale showed absent strikers how it was done by blasting in a 67th-minute winner in a 1-0 Premier League success at 10-man West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.
The victory for fourth-placed Spurs, which came despite their only available forward Jermain Defoe limping off in the first half, put them a point behind Chelsea in third after Rafael Benitez’s side lost 3-2 at Newcastle United on Saturday.
The Londoners were helped by West Brom’s Macedonia defender Goran Popov being sent off after 48 minutes for spitting at Kyle Walker but Spurs deserved the win because of Welshman Bale’s continued heroics.
The 23-year-old’s 13th goal in all competitions this term, following another cracker in the 1-1 draw with Norwich City in midweek, summed up all his attributes as he evaded a challenge on the edge of the box and let fly with a swerving strike.
With Emmanuel Adebayor away at the African Nations Cup, Spurs’ over reliance on out-of-form Defoe was keenly felt by supporters but Bale is digging them out of holes as a Champions League spot looks more and more a possibility.
Ninth-placed West Brom had decent chances through Shane Long and Romelu Lukaku but perhaps missed fellow forward Peter Odemwingie, dropped after turning up at Queens Park Rangers without permission on transfer deadline day as he tried to force through a move.