Saturday: West Ham United v Chelsea (3.30pm kick-off UAE)
An injury-time goal from Danny Ings earned West Ham a draw at Fulham last week that leaves Julen Lopetegui's side with four points from their opening four games but are hoping to avoid a third straight home league defeat at the London Stadium.
Chelsea are up to eighth in the table after a 1-0 win at Bournemouth – which saw a Premier League record 14 yellow cards – courtesy of substitute Christopher Nkunku's late goal. The Blues are unbeaten since their opening weekend defeat to Manchester City, having taken seven points from their last three matches.
Prediction: West Ham 1 Chelsea 2
Aston Villa v Wolves (6pm)
Villa go into this local derby having won three out of four in the league – beating Everton 3-2 last Saturday despite being two goals down after 27 minutes – and on a high from their midweek Champions League victory over Young Boys.
It has been a tough start to the campaign for Gary O'Neil's Wolves who have managed just one point from four games, losing at home to Newcastle United last weekend, leaving them third from bottom.
Prediction: Villa 3 Wolves 1
Fulham v Newcastle (6pm)
Fulham conceded in the 96th minute against West Ham last week, cancelling out Raul Jimenez's first-half goal, meaning the Cottagers drew for the second match running, having won and lost their other two games.
Unbeaten Newcastle moved up to third in the table on 10 points thanks to two goals in five minutes at Wolves – the first a deflected Fabian Schar strike before a stunning effort from outside the box from substitute Harvey Barnes earned the Magpies a 2-1 win.
Prediction: Fulham 1 Newcastle 3
Leicester City v Everton (6pm)
Leicester are still looking for their first victory since returning to the top flight after losing a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Crystal Palace last time out. Steve Cooper has seen his side take two points from a possible 12 so far.
For the second game running Everton lost a match 3-2 – against Bournemouth and the Villa – despite taking a two-goal lead. The troubled Merseysiders are rock bottom having lost all four of their matches.
Prediction: Leicester 1 Everton 0
Liverpool v Bournemouth (6pm)
Liverpool are looking to bounce back from their surprise home loss to Nottingham Forest, a defeat that ended Arne Slot's perfect start as manager. The Reds were impressive midweek winners at AC Milan in the Champions League.
Bournemouth can count themselves unlucky to have lost at home to Chelsea last time out which saw Andoni Iraola's men fail to score despite having 19 shots with seven on target.
Prediction: Liverpool 2 Bournemouth 1
Southampton v Ipswich Town (6pm)
Southampton are still searching for their first point after a 3-0 home loss to Manchester United and are only off the bottom on goal difference. Russell Martin's side have scored just once in four matches.
Ipswich have a couple of points on the board, at least, although a first top-flight victory since 2002 still eludes the promoted Tractor Boys. Last week's goalless draw at Brighton showed the type of grit needed if they want to avoid dropping straight back down to the Championship.
Prediction: Southampton 1 Ipswich 1
Tottenham Hotspur v Brentford (6pm)
A North London derby defeat against Arsenal condemned Spurs to a second loss on the spin which resulted in Ange Postecoglou's side dropping to 14th in the table. It was also the second game running Spurs had dominated possession and had more attempts on goal without securing even a point.
Brentford took the lead after just 23 seconds at Manchester City last week thanks to Yoane Wissa's finish but could not stop the reigning champions going on to win 2-1. It means the Bees have two wins and two defeats so far.
Prediction: Spurs 3 Brentford 2
Crystal Palace v Manchester United (8.30pm]
Palace are one of six clubs without a win having drawn two and lost two with the Eagles needing a stoppage-time penalty from Jean-Philippe Mateta to complete a fightback from two goals down at home to Leicester.
The pressure has been eased on United manager Erik ten Hag after their 3-0 battering of Southampton was followed by a 7-0 midweek League Cup thrashing of third-tier Barnsley.
Prediction: Palace 2 Man United 1
Sunday: Brighton v Nottingham Forest (5pm)
Brighton remain unbeaten but were left frustrated last week after a home stalemate with Ipswich which leaves the Seagulls sixth after two wins were followed by successive draws.
Forest secured their first victory at Liverpool in any competition since 1969 thanks to substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi's 72nd-minute strike and are two places ahead of Brighton in fourth after two wins and two draws.
Prediction: Brighton 2 Forest 2
Manchester City v Arsenal (7.30pm)
The top two clash at the Etihad with Manchester City aiming to make it five wins from five with striker Erling Haaland having already scored nine goals in four league for the reigning champions.
Kevin de Bruyne is an injury doubt for Pep Guardiola's champions having been withdrawn at half time during Wednesday's 0-0 draw with Inter Milan in the Champions League.
Second-place Arsenal showed their fighting side in last week's derby win at Spurs and the Gunners now have the joint-meanest defence in the division having conceded just one goal so far.
Prediction: Man City 2 Arsenal 0
If you go
Flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh with a stop in Yangon from Dh3,075, and Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Phnom Penh with its partner Bangkok Airlines from Dh2,763. These trips take about nine hours each and both include taxes. From there, a road transfer takes at least four hours; airlines including KC Airlines (www.kcairlines.com) offer quick connecting flights from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville from about $100 (Dh367) return including taxes. Air Asia, Malindo Air and Malaysian Airlines fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Sihanoukville from $54 each way. Next year, direct flights are due to launch between Bangkok and Sihanoukville, which will cut the journey time by a third.
The stay
Rooms at Alila Villas Koh Russey (www.alilahotels.com/ kohrussey) cost from $385 per night including taxes.
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
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.”
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
'Panga'
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
No more lice
Defining head lice
Pediculus humanus capitis are tiny wingless insects that feed on blood from the human scalp. The adult head louse is up to 3mm long, has six legs, and is tan to greyish-white in colour. The female lives up to four weeks and, once mature, can lay up to 10 eggs per day. These tiny nits firmly attach to the base of the hair shaft, get incubated by body heat and hatch in eight days or so.
Identifying lice
Lice can be identified by itching or a tickling sensation of something moving within the hair. One can confirm that a person has lice by looking closely through the hair and scalp for nits, nymphs or lice. Head lice are most frequently located behind the ears and near the neckline.
Treating lice at home
Head lice must be treated as soon as they are spotted. Start by checking everyone in the family for them, then follow these steps. Remove and wash all clothing and bedding with hot water. Apply medicine according to the label instructions. If some live lice are still found eight to 12 hours after treatment, but are moving more slowly than before, do not re-treat. Comb dead and remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine-toothed comb.
After the initial treatment, check for, comb and remove nits and lice from hair every two to three days. Soak combs and brushes in hot water for 10 minutes.Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay.
Courtesy Dr Vishal Rajmal Mehta, specialist paediatrics, RAK Hospital
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
Four tips to secure IoT networks
Mohammed Abukhater, vice president at FireEye in the Middle East, said:
- Keep device software up-to-date. Most come with basic operating system, so users should ensure that they always have the latest version
- Besides a strong password, use two-step authentication. There should be a second log-in step like adding a code sent to your mobile number
- Usually smart devices come with many unnecessary features. Users should lock those features that are not required or used frequently
- Always create a different guest network for visitors
UAE Premiership
Results
Dubai Exiles 24-28 Jebel Ali Dragons
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 43-27 Dubai Hurricanes
Fixture
Friday, March 29, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Jebel Ali Dragons, The Sevens, Dubai
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
