Arsenal's Premier League title rivals were given a boost at the weekend when the Gunners were held to a draw by top-flight surprise packages Sunderland.
A stoppage-time goal from Brian Brobbey earned the Black Cats a point on Wearside, ending Arsenal's run of 10 consecutive wins across all competitions.
Manchester City surged into second place by demolishing champions Liverpool 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium leaving Pep Guardiola's side five points behind the leaders after 11 games.
Chelsea jumped up to third place – one points above Sunderland – after sweeping aside bottom club Wolves 3-0 at Stamford Bridge.
There is just a single point separating Sunderland in fourth and ninth-place Bournemouth in what is an incredibly tight top half of the table.
At the bottom, winless Wolves still only have two draws to their name and are now eight points shy of safety.
Nottingham Forest and West Ham sit in the other relegation spots, although third bottom Hammers are level on 10 points with Burnley in 17th.
Below is our team of the week (4-3-3):
Goalkeeper
Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa): The Argentine World Cup winner made a number of good stops in Villa's 4-0 thrashing of Bournemouth, including saving Antoine Semenyo's second-half penalty.
Defenders
Matheus Nunes (Manchester City): The former Wolves player has been a revelation for City since switching from midfield with manager Pep Guardiola saying recently he has all the skills needed in "an incredible right-back". It was the Portuguese's fine cross that set up Erling Haaland's opening goal on Sunday.
Ruben Dias (Manchester City): Nullified the threat of Liverpool striker Hugo Ekitike as City kept a clean sheet, restricting the reigning champions to just a single effort on target.
Dan Ballard (Sunderland): A match to remember for the Sunderland centre-half who scored the opening goal against former club and league leaders Arsenal - the first time the Gunners had conceded in 812 minutes. The Black Cats held on to their place in the top four with a battling point.
Tyrick Mitchell (Crystal Palace): The Palace wing-back helped his team follow-up a Uefa Europa League win over AZ Alkmaar with a clean-sheet in a goalless home draw with Brighton.
Midfielders
Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest): The England midfielder was the fulcrum to Forest's first Premier League win under manager Sean Dyche, while also scoring the points, clinching penalty in stoppage time as relegation rivals Leeds were dispatched 3-1.
Idrissa Gueye (Everton): Driving force in middle of park as the 35-year-old Senegalese grabbed the opening goal in the Merseysiders' 2-0 home defeat of Fulham.
Emiliano Buendia (Aston Villa): Argentine midfielder curled home a glorious free-kick from just outside the box to open the scoring in Villa's big win over Bournemouth.
Attackers
Bryan Mbeumo (Manchester United): Cameroonian headed United into the lead in their 2-2 draw at Tottenham and now has five goals in 11 games this season after his summer switch from Brentford.
Igor Thiago (Brentford): Brazilian striker scored twice in Brentford's 3-1 win over Newcastle taking his Premier League campaign tally to nine goals, second only to Manchester City goal machine Haaland's 14.
Jeremy Doku (Manchester City): Scintillating performance from the Belgian winger who has stepped up several levels this season, adding a reliable final product to his pace and skill, highlighted by his wonderful curling finish to score City's third.
Manager
Pep Guardiola (Manchester City): What better way to mark your 1,000th game as a manager than by masterminding City's destruction of old title rivals Liverpool at a bouncing Etihad.
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The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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.”
Defined benefit and defined contribution schemes explained
Defined Benefit Plan (DB)
A defined benefit plan is where the benefit is defined by a formula, typically length of service to and salary at date of leaving.
Defined Contribution Plan (DC)
A defined contribution plan is where the benefit depends on the amount of money put into the plan for an employee, and how much investment return is earned on those contributions.
Winners
Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)
Ballon d’Or Féminin (Women’s)
Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)
Kopa Trophy (Best player under 21 – Men’s)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona / Spain)
Best Young Women’s Player
Vicky López (Barcelona / Spain)
Yashin Trophy (Best Goalkeeper – Men’s)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City / Italy)
Best Women’s Goalkeeper
Hannah Hampton (England / Aston Villa and Chelsea)
Men’s Coach of the Year
Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain)
Women’s Coach of the Year
Sarina Wiegman (England)
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
Bombshell
Director: Jay Roach
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie
Four out of five stars
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Company%20Profile
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The biog
Date of birth: 27 May, 1995
Place of birth: Dubai, UAE
Status: Single
School: Al Ittihad private school in Al Mamzar
University: University of Sharjah
Degree: Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Hobby: I enjoy travelling a lot, not just for fun, but I like to cross things off my bucket list and the map and do something there like a 'green project'.
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
