Manchester City's Samir Nasri, left, battles for the ball with Bolton's David Wheater. Nigel Roddis / Reuters
Manchester City's Samir Nasri, left, battles for the ball with Bolton's David Wheater. Nigel Roddis / Reuters

Premier League: Man City stretch their lead at top of the table



Manchester City 2 Bolton Wanderers 0

Manchester City stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League to five points after beating Bolton Wanderers 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium.

The hosts bombarded struggling Bolton's goal and they eventually got their reward after 23 minutes when Gael Clichy's strike flew past Adam Bogdan off Gretar Steinsson to give Roberto Mancini's side the lead.

Mario Balotelli turned home Adam Johnson's cross in the second half to seal a sixth straight win for the leaders.

The victory puts pressure on neighbours Manchester United, who will aim to reduce City's lead with a win at Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow.

West Bromwich Albion 1 Chelsea 0

The pressure on Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas intensified as his team lost 1-0 to in-form West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns.

Daniel Sturridge, so lively for England in midweek, wasted two golden chances to ease the pressure on his under-fire manager and he was made to pay for his profligacy as Gareth McAuley turned home Liam Ridgewell's off-target shot eight minutes from time to give the Baggies the win.

Wigan Athletic 0 Swansea City 2

Wigan Athletic manager Roberto Martinez endured a day to forget against his former team Swansea City as the league's bottom side suffered yet another defeat thanks to two superb strikes from Gylfi Sigurdsson.

Sigurdsson put the Swans ahead with a superb curling effort in first-half injury time before the former Reading man sealed the win with a 30-yard piledriver.

Highly-rated to Swansea midfielder Nathan Dyer, watched by England interim head coach Stuart Pearce, had a day to forget though as he was sent off for a late tackle on Jordi Gomez.

Blackburn Rovers 1 Aston Villa 1

David Dunn stepped off the bench to snatch a point for Blackburn Rovers against Aston Villa at Ewood Park.

Villa looked set for a morale-boosting win when Charles N'Zogbia fired them ahead but Dunn denied Alex McLeish's men all three points after heading home Bradley Orr's cross with five minutes left.

Queens Park Rangers 1 Everton 1

Bobby Zamora scored a crucial equaliser for QPR against Everton to prevent Mark Hughes' side from slipping to yet another defeat at Loftus Road.

Royston Drenthe slammed home a brilliant 25-yard strike to put the Toffees ahead and put Rangers on course for yet another defeat before Zamora came to the rescue just before the break.

Stoke City 1 Norwich City 1

Paul Lambert's Norwich City suffered their sixth away defeat of the season after going down to a second-half strike from Matthew Etherington at Stoke City.

Etherington latched on to Cameron Jerome's flick-on and smashed a shot past John Ruddy to give the Potters the win.

Liverpool 1 Arsenal 2

Liverpool paid for missing a penalty and hitting the post twice as Arsenal's Robin van Persie scored a double to snatch a late 2-1 Premier League victory at Anfield.

Dirk Kuyt squandered Liverpool's sixth spot-kick this season just before Laurent Koscielny put through his own net, but Van Persie equalised with a close-range header from a rare Gunners' chance.

The home side dominated the second half but failed to capitalise and were punished by the Holland international's second in added time.

The visitors appeared in danger of being swamped early on and Luis Suarez won a penalty when he was tripped by Gunners goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. Unfortunately for Liverpool, Kuyt's effort was saved by Szczesny, who also denied the Dutchman's shot from the rebound.

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

LIVING IN...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company

FIXTURES

Monday, January 28
Iran v Japan, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)

Tuesday, January 29
UAEv Qatar, Mohamed Bin Zayed Stadium (6pm)

Friday, February 1
Final, Zayed Sports City Stadium (6pm)

How to get there

Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
 

A MINECRAFT MOVIE

Director: Jared Hess

Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5