Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said he warned his players to let Liverpool's surprise loss to Everton serve as a reminder that any team can slip up in the title race, before watching them thrash Brighton away 4-0.
City moved a point behind Premier League leaders Arsenal and leapfrogged Liverpool into second spot thanks to Phil Foden’s double and goals from Kevin de Bruyne and Julian Alvarez.
Victory on England's south coast came 24 hours after Liverpool suffered a 2-0 defeat to their Merseyside rivals at Goodison Park.
It was a second defeat on the bounce for Jurgen Klopp's side, having fallen to a shock 1-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace earlier this month.
Guardiola, whose reigning champions have a game in hand over their two closest rivals, insists the Reds remain contenders and acknowledges City are also susceptible to slipping up during the run-in.
“I said to the players what happened to Liverpool can happen to us and can happen to Arsenal,” said the Spaniard.
“People didn’t expect them to lose against Crystal Palace and yesterday but it can happen to us – it’s football.
“Everton is playing to avoid the relegation zone and we have a similar game at Nottingham Forest [on Sunday] and they play for their lives.
“Maybe because they were a real contender of ours for many years, my appreciation for Liverpool is higher than ever.
“Still it [the title] is there [for Liverpool] because I know the character of their team. They are going to fight until the end and we have to do it too.”
City eased their way into Thursday evening’s clash at the Amex Stadium before De Bruyne’s superb diving header and Foden’s quick-fire brace put them in complete control at the break.
Alvarez completed the rout as the visitors resumed their title defence with a statement of intent after scraping past Chelsea to reach the FA Cup final and crashing out of the Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid.
City are chasing an English record fourth successive top-flight title – and six in seven seasons under Guardiola – but says past success is no guarantee City will win it again this time around.
Guardiola is chasing a fourth successive top-flight title – and sixth in seven seasons – but is unsure if the previous achievements will give his team the edge in the final weeks of the campaign.
“What we have done in the past doesn’t mean it’s going to happen in the future," he said. "To do it again, you have to make it happen. We know what we’re playing for.
“We know that if we don’t win or we draw, we will not have chance to fight until the end, so of course the pressure is there, otherwise we cannot perform that well.
“Five games left and on to the next."
Brighton’s persistence in playing out from the back contributed to their own downfall on a difficult evening.
The Seagulls had reason to feel aggrieved about the award of the free-kick from which Foden claimed the visitors’ second, while referee Jarred Gillett later waved away a strong penalty appeal when Joao Pedro appeared to be bundled over by Josko Gvardiol.
Yet 11th-placed Albion could have few complaints about a one-sided result which further damages their floundering European push.
Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi refused to blame the officiating after his injury-hit side’s winless run stretched to five games.
“We played against one of the best teams in the world,” said the Italian.
“We tried to play without DNA, respecting our qualities. We conceded the first, the second, the third, the fourth all in a bad way, we made mistakes.
“I’m frustrated because we can’t compete against the big teams in this moment and we have to be honest.
“We didn’t lose for the referee’s responsibilities.”
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
FIRST TEST SCORES
England 458
South Africa 361 & 119 (36.4 overs)
England won by 211 runs and lead series 1-0
Player of the match: Moeen Ali (England)
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Investment: $5.2 million
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
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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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
