Cesc Fabregas, centre, the Arsenal midfielder and captain, has not played in the first team since injuring his hamstring in last month’s 1-1 Premier League draw against Sunderland.
Cesc Fabregas, centre, the Arsenal midfielder and captain, has not played in the first team since injuring his hamstring in last month’s 1-1 Premier League draw against Sunderland.

Fabregas ready to return



Cesc Fabregas has handed Arsenal a boost ahead Sunday's Premier League encounter with Manchester City after returning to training yesterday.

The Spain midfielder, who has not played since the Gunners' 1-1 draw at Sunderland last month, trained with his teammates at Arsenal's base in London Colney ahead of tonight's Champions League game against Ukraine side Shakhtar Donetsk.

Fabregas, 23, is now almost certain to start at City on Sunday in what is an early season meeting of title contenders. City are second after eight games, three points ahead of Arsenal in third.

Arsene Wenger's side have suffered a dip in form since Fabregas suffered a hamstring injury, losing to West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea before stuttering to a 2-1 win over Birmingham City at the weekend.

Wenger, though, will give plenty of thought as to whether he should throw Fabregas straight back into the action tonight.

"Cesc has prepared well. He had a little setback, but got over the hurdle and is ready to play at full fitness, but whether I start him or not, I do not know yet," Wenger said.

"It will be whether I take a gamble or not, because he has been out for a long time. But physically he is ready and fit and wanting to play."

Wenger added: "You know his influence on our team, he is our leader, our passer, he has a good level of assists and a good goalscoring record. Ideally you want him in the team."

Arsenal will meet a familiar opponent against Shakhtar, with Eduardo da Silva returning to the club just three months after they sold him.

Eduardo scored twice for Arsenal in last season's Champions League, but the Croatian striker was sold to the Ukraine champions to make way for Marouane Chamakh, a summer signing from Bordeaux, after three years in London.

"Even before the draw was made, I dreamed of playing against Arsenal and playing in front of the fans again at the Emirates," Eduardo said.

Wenger admits it was somewhat emotional to see the Brazil-born forward leave, the 27-year-old having fought his way back to full fitness following a horrific broken leg and dislocated ankle at Birmingham in February 2008.

"I will be happy and sad to see Eduardo," Wenger said. "Happy because he was always a fantastic boy with a fantastic mentality, he just had the class of an Arsenal player, and sad because I worked very hard to get him here and he left with the feeling that he could not completely fulfil the promise he had in the first season.

"That was basically down to the fact he was injured for a long time."

Arsenal v Shakhtar, 10.45pm, Aljazeera Sport +3

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Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
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Al Jazira's foreign quartet for 2017/18

Romarinho, Brazil

Lassana Diarra, France

Sardor Rashidov, Uzbekistan

Mbark Boussoufa, Morocco

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Cryopreservation: A timeline
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Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 258hp at 5,000-6,500rpm

Torque: 400Nm from 1,550-4,400rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 6.4L/100km

Price, base: from D215,000 (Dh230,000 as tested)

On sale: now

Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
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German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

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Draw

Quarter-finals

Real Madrid (ESP) or Manchester City (ENG) v Juventus (ITA) or Lyon (FRA)

RB Leipzig (GER) v Atletico Madrid (ESP)

Barcelona (ESP) or Napoli (ITA) v Bayern Munich (GER) or Chelsea (ENG)

Atalanta (ITA) v Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)

Ties to be played August 12-15 in Lisbon

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INDIA SQUADS

India squad for third Test against Sri Lanka
Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Vijay Shankar

India squad for ODI series against Sri Lanka
Rohit Sharma (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul

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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia