Liverpool registered their first win of the season in the most emphatic fashion as they equalled the record for the biggest ever Premier League victory with a 9-0 thrashing of newly promoted Bournemouth on Saturday.
Jurgen Klopp's men were just pipped to last season's title and began the new campaign slowly, with surprise draws against Fulham and Crystal Palace compounded by Monday's loss at rivals Manchester United.
Scott Parker warned of a backlash and his Bournemouth side could do nothing to prevent an Anfield humiliation.
Roberto Firmino and Luis Diaz both scored twice with strikes from Harvey Elliott, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Fabio Carvalho and a Chris Mepham own goal completing the scoring.
Liverpool's victory matched Manchester United's 9-0 win over Ipswich in 1995. United defeated Southampton by the same score last year, while Leicester also won 9-0 at Southampton in 2019.
Firmino, starting in place of suspended summer signing Darwin Nunez, produced a stunning first-half display, which began with Diaz heading home his clipped cross within three minutes of kick-off.
Two goals inside the opening six minutes from Diaz and Elliot set the stage for a one-sided affair at Anfield.
A stunning strike from England full-back Alexander Arnold which arrowed into the top corner gave Liverpool a three-goal lead in the 28th minute before Firmino got in on the act with a fourth three minutes later.
Soon, Liverpool had a fifth before the interval as Van Dijk headed home from a corner, before Mepham's own goal sank the visitors' hopes further.
A close-range finish from Firmino kept the goals coming, with substitute Carvalho's finish letting the home fans dream of a record-breaking afternoon.
It was a stunning response from Liverpool after their 2-1 defeat to Manchester United and it was managed without star scorer Mohamed Salah getting on the scoresheet.
"Each manager in the world is a fantastic entertainer when you win football games. When you have to answer questions after you lose a game and try to find explanations, it sounds like excuses or whatever," Klopp said after the win.
"We were not happy with the way we played. We had good moments in nearly all the games where we showed things which we are strong at, and other things where we have to improve.
"You get this early goal and you get the second. And we kept going, scored different goals but always with the same purpose: keep going, put them under pressure, don't stop.
"At half-time it was important that we, again, keep going because it's early in the season."
Meanwhile, Chelsea overcame the early sending off of Conor Gallagher to beat Leicester 2-1 at Stamford Bridge behind two goals from Raheem Sterling.
Also, Brighton beat Leeds 1-0 and Brentford drew at home against Everton 1-1.
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Graduated from the American University of Sharjah
She is the eldest of three brothers and two sisters
Has helped solve 15 cases of electric shocks
Enjoys travelling, reading and horse riding
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.”
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