The Premier League has been enjoyable so far, with only eight points separating the top eight teams after 18 games.
Manchester City are my favourites for the title. Man for man, they boast a better first XI than anyone. They have the strongest overall squad, too. Their home form has been impeccable, with nine wins from nine and an incredible 37 goals scored at the Etihad Stadium.
Contrast that with Manchester United who have scored 11 goals at home.
If City can improve their patchy away form, the league will be theirs.
It is not easy to adapt, but Alvaro Negredo has settled immediately. He has been a fine signing. Fernandinho, too.
Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero remain their best talents. They were the best players on the pitch in the Manchester derby when they hammered United 4-1.
If you can stand out against the champions, you are on to something, though United have not been themselves so far.
City also hammered Arsenal, Spurs and beat Liverpool, though Liverpool were unlucky not to get something from the game on Thursday.
Brendan Rodgers’ side have been the surprise of the season.
Their fans had them down for finishing seventh or eighth in August. They were wrong.
Liverpool have a great chance of a Champions League spot. Why? Luis Suarez. He is the best player in the league so far – and by a distance, too.
He has elevated Liverpool and fitted in as replacement captain for Steven Gerrard, another fantastic servant who still has a major part to play.
Suarez is leading that team; he is ridiculously good at beating players, setting up goals and scoring.
He ties centre-backs in knots, he buffaloes into players and still comes out with the ball. His finishing is almost faultless.
Suarez made a lot of mistakes in the past, but finally people are talking about him as a great footballer. I would pay to watch him play.
Arsenal will finish in a Champions League spot, but unless they buy another centre forward in January to ease the burden on the tiring Oliver Giroud, they will not win the league.
One signing transformed their team: Mesut Ozil. He is not as consistent as Suarez and some of their bad results have coincided with Ozil not playing well, but should not the rest of the team be stepping up?
Chelsea? They have the players, but they are not as good as Man City, pound for pound.
They have slightly underwhelmed under Jose Mourinho and lost games nobody would have expected a Mourinho team to lose. They let the excellent Romelu Lukaku go on loan and their remaining strikers have been criticised, but wasn’t the great strength of Chelsea teams that they had several players scoring from difference positions?
Other players are allowed to score and help out. A top-four finish though. Definitely.
I hope United finish in the top four, too. It would be very strange if they didn’t and didn’t reach the Champions League.
United have stuttered all season, enjoying a good run and then a couple of bad games.
They are seventh, it is not good enough so far and they may have left it too late to win the league, but the league is far less predictable and they are still only eight points off the top.
They need more cohesion and to be less fragmented if they’re going to beat the top teams.
Beating smaller sides is not enough if you are to lift the title.
The form of Wayne Rooney has been the plus in David Moyes’s reign so far. That, and the emergence of Adnan Januzaj, who plays so well despite being only 18. How many players break into top sides at that age? Almost none.
Antonio Valencia can be devastating on the wing when confident and the central defensive partnership of Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans is encouraging for United.
They need to continue their winning run and drastically improve home form. United have 14 points at home, City have 27.
The league is so topsy-turvy that even Everton have a chance of top four. It has been super to see them play attacking football and dominating matches and I take my hat off to Roberto Martinez for the excellent job he is doing.
Tottenham have disappointed so far. They are not the Spurs we have become used to, an attacking side with swagger. I know their new manager Tim Sherwood and wish him well, but a top-four finish is unlikely.
Andrew Cole’s column is written with the assistance of Andy Mitten, the European football correspondent.
sports@thenational.ae
Sri Lanka squad for tri-nation series
Angelo Mathews (c), Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Janith Perera, Thisara Perera, Asela Gunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Dushmantha Chameera, Shehan Madushanka, Akila Dananjaya, Lakshan Sandakan and Wanidu Hasaranga
THE POPE'S ITINERARY
Sunday, February 3, 2019 - Rome to Abu Dhabi
1pm: departure by plane from Rome / Fiumicino to Abu Dhabi
10pm: arrival at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
Monday, February 4
12pm: welcome ceremony at the main entrance of the Presidential Palace
12.20pm: visit Abu Dhabi Crown Prince at Presidential Palace
5pm: private meeting with Muslim Council of Elders at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
6.10pm: Inter-religious in the Founder's Memorial
Tuesday, February 5 - Abu Dhabi to Rome
9.15am: private visit to undisclosed cathedral
10.30am: public mass at Zayed Sports City – with a homily by Pope Francis
12.40pm: farewell at Abu Dhabi Presidential Airport
1pm: departure by plane to Rome
5pm: arrival at the Rome / Ciampino International Airport
THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
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JAPAN SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Masaaki Higashiguchi, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Sho Sasaki, Hiroki Sakai, Sei Muroya, Genta Miura, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Midfielders: Toshihiro Aoyama, Genki Haraguchi, Gaku Shibasaki, Wataru Endo, Junya Ito, Shoya Nakajima, Takumi Minamino, Hidemasa Morita, Ritsu Doan
Forwards: Yuya Osako, Takuma Asano, Koya Kitagawa
The%20Color%20Purple
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
The five stages of early child’s play
From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:
1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.
2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.
3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.
4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.
5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.
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Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20HyveGeo%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Abdulaziz%20bin%20Redha%2C%20Dr%20Samsurin%20Welch%2C%20Eva%20Morales%20and%20Dr%20Harjit%20Singh%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ECambridge%20and%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%208%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESustainability%20%26amp%3B%20Environment%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24200%2C000%20plus%20undisclosed%20grant%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVenture%20capital%20and%20government%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Meydan race card
6.30pm: Baniyas (PA) Group 2 Dh125,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,200m
7.40pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh170,000 (D) 1,900m
8.50pm: Rated Conditions (TB) Dh240,000 (D) 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh175,000 (D)1,200m
10pm: Handicap (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
The%20specs
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The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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All you need to know about Formula E in Saudi Arabia
What The Saudia Ad Diriyah E-Prix
When Saturday
Where Diriyah in Saudi Arabia
What time Qualifying takes place from 11.50am UAE time through until the Super Pole session, which is due to end at 12.55pm. The race, which will last for 45 minutes, starts at 4.05pm.
Who is competing There are 22 drivers, from 11 teams, on the grid, with each vehicle run solely on electronic power.
Company%20Profile
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Afro%20salons
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The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
