Chelsea have stuttered in their progress towards the Premier League title recently but Jose Mourinho’s side can take a significant step towards being crowned champions with victory over Stoke on Saturday.
The visit of Mark Hughes’ team to Stamford Bridge presents Chelsea with the opportunity to consolidate their six-point lead at the top of the table.
And with second placed Manchester City having just seven matches, one less than Chelsea, to close the gap following the latest round of matches, a win will make the west Londoners even firmer favourites to bring the title to Stamford Bridge for the first time since 2010.
However, Mourinho’s team have been less than convincing in their last two outings at home, exiting the Champions League on away goals after a 2-2 draw with Paris Saint Germain before a fortunate 1-1 draw with Southampton.
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And their final fixture before signing off for the international break produced a narrow 3-2 victory at struggling Hull, secured by a late Loic Remy goal and only after the leaders had squandered a two-goal first half lead.
Hughes’ improved Stoke will provide another stern test, and while Chelsea won the reverse fixture comfortably in December, City have the capacity to ruffle the feathers of the leading teams.
Fortunately for Mourinho’s side, none of the chasing pack have been able to maintain a level of consistency that would have allowed them to capitalise on recent slips, although Arsenal, playing earlier on Saturday, can reduce the gap to four points if they beat Liverpool.
Chelsea’s recent run has certainly ensured there is no risk of complacency at the Bridge and Mourinho may ultimately have cause to be grateful his side has not simply breezed through recent games.
Denying the title was already in the bag, left-back Filipe Luis said: “No, it’s really difficult. We have nine games, really difficult games. You know the Premier League is never easy.
“We have to be better than ever because these are coming with a lot of pressure, but I think we’re prepared to cope with the hard situation we have.
“The manager always says to us it’s not over. He never said anything else. He always asked for everybody to be focused and concentrated in the games and try to win everything we have.
“Of course, we have a chance to win the Premier League. Everyone wants to be there to try to help the team to win the league.”
Stoke manager Hughes has set a long-term target of getting his club into the top six after agreeing a new four-year deal last week.
Hughes, whose team currently sit 10th and finished ninth last term, said: “We want to break the glass ceiling into the top eight — not this year, but that’s the hope in years to come.
“We’ll always strive to be higher than top eight. Last year we were ninth and Southampton were eighth so we came second in that mini-league.
“The challenge for us is to break in. It certainly won’t happen this year but the hope is that in seasons to follow we can break through the glass ceiling.
“The owners like what they’ve seen and want to move forwards again.”
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
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Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
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Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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.”
