Manchester City 1 Wigan Athletic 0
Man City: Tevez 83'
MANCHESTER // For Manchester City, the stalest of stalemates beckoned. They were being held, and at times outplayed, by Wigan Athletic. The FA Cup final dress rehearsal suggested Roberto Mancini's men would be disappointed at Wembley Stadium on May 11.
Then, suddenly, a damaging draw became a hard-fought victory. Carlos Tevez, like a force of nature, powered through to score a solo goal. City had their eighth win in nine games. Momentum was maintained, Manchester United's "insurmountable" lead was reduced by two points and City's grip on second place cemented.
Spare a thought, though, for Wigan. They remain in the bottom three, three points from safety and after playing one of their games in hand.
Yet for much of this match, they were the more assured and composed in possession, the more creative and even the classier. They are entitled to see the score line as an injustice and have only six games left to salvage their Premier League status. The consolation is that if they continue to play as well, they will have every chance.
City, meanwhile, never touched the heights they reached in recent wins over Manchester United and Chelsea. Perhaps fatigue was a factor, after their FA Cup semi-final win over Chelsea, but Mancini was able to select Micah Richards for just his fifth appearance of the season and his first since October, when a knee injury interrupted his campaign. The overworked Pablo Zabaleta was given a rare rest, not even on the bench as Mancini made five changes.
Roberto Martinez believes he has the strongest squad of his time at Wigan, but nevertheless does not have the same alternatives. Franco di Santo was the only outfield player to come into his team. However, with greater continuity in the side, Wigan made the smoother start against a City defence where only Vincent Kompany retained his place.
Indeed, Mancini's side were subdued and the crowd only came to life when news came of Ricardo Vaz Te's opening goal for West Ham against United.
City's match-winner at Old Trafford last week, meanwhile, was threatening. When darting through, Sergio Aguero could not quite control Yaya Toure's chipped pass over the Wigan defence. From the tightest of angles, he managed a shot on the visitors' goal, but he could not bend it back inside the far post. Sliding, he almost connected with Tevez's cross.
Aleksandar Kolarov, one of those with most to prove, was prominent, even if his radar was awry but City were lacking a spark. There was no David Silva, who should make his comeback at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday and, when Samir Nasri was hurt by a challenge from Jordi Gomez, City feared they had lost their other creative midfielder. Instead, the Frenchman continued.
Mancini's half-time move was to send on Edin Dzeko for Sergio Aguero as part of a reshuffle that involved relocating Javi Garcia to the defence. Nevertheless, Wigan remained the sharper. They had enjoyed the clearer opportunities beforehand and did so afterwards.
Just before the break, they constructed a beautiful move, Arouna Kone picking out Shaun Maloney, who delicately flicked the ball into Di Santo's path. The Argentine advanced unconvincingly on goal and the recalled Joe Hart flung himself at his feet to block.
Four minutes after the interval, the lively Maloney skipped away from two defenders and curled in a shot. Retreating to his own line, Joleon Lescott cleared it. With Hart beaten, it was just as well he did. Another of the defence, Kompany, made an equally important contribution with a well-timed block when Kone seemed likely to score.
City belatedly displayed some urgency with Tevez running at the Wigan defence. It was his strike partner, however, who had their ideal opening. Yaya Toure picked out the unmarked Dzeko but Joel Robles was out quickly to stop.
Wigan's Paul Scharner had just hit the bar, although he was offside, when Tevez accepted Kolarov's pass, skipped between two defenders and sprinted through to score. Game over, cruel as it was for Wigan.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Indoor Cricket World Cup
Venue Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE squad Saqib Nazir (captain), Aaqib Malik, Fahad Al Hashmi, Isuru Umesh, Nadir Hussain, Sachin Talwar, Nashwan Nasir, Prashath Kumara, Ramveer Rai, Sameer Nayyak, Umar Shah, Vikrant Shetty
