As the Premier League returns after the international break, Graham Caygill provides his predictions for all 10 fixtures.
Liverpool 2 Everton 1
Why? Everton are in great form in 2017 with 23 points from 10 games, but Liverpool have begun to look more rejuvenated with Sadio Mane back pulling the strings.
While Romelu Lukaku will be a big threat for Everton, Liverpool will have too much offensively for their Merseyside rivals.
Burnley 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2
Why? Burnley's home form has been superb and is the sole reason they are on course to comfortably stay in the Premier League. Of their 32 points, 29 have come at Turf Moor, but they will not add to that tally against Tottenham.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men continue to impress, even without the injured Harry Kane, and with Dele Alli in fine goalscoring form, expect more of the same from Spurs on Saturday.
Chelsea 3 Crystal Palace 0
Why? With three wins and three clean sheets in a row, Sam Allardyce's Palace have perked up, but they were against a West Bromwich Albion side having a rare off day, a limited Watford team, and a struggling Middlesbrough.
Palace do not have the quality to deal with Chelsea, and Antonio Conte’s men, with Eden Hazard back in the line-up, will take another step towards the title.
Hull City 2 West Ham United 2
Why? A big match for Hull. If the relegation-threatened side are to get out of the mire, then games like these are ones they really must win.
While Marco Silva has improved their results, they still are susceptible at the back, and Andy Carroll will fancy his chances of causing problems at set pieces.
Leicester City 2 Stoke City 1
Why? Leicester have rediscovered their mojo having won their past three games, and with Jamie Vardy looking like the striker who scored the goals that fired them to the Premier League last season, they should make it four on the trot against Stoke.
Manchester United 1 West Bromwich Albion 0
Why? Still no Zlatan Ibrahimovic for United as he continues his suspension, but United should still have enough for West Brom, despite the impressive display by Tony Pulis's side in defeating Arsenal two weeks ago. United will look to Juan Mata and Marcus Rashford for their goal threat in the absence of their top scorer.
Watford 0 Sunderland 1
Why? Watford are in poor form with one point from four games, and it is not just the results but the manner of the performances under Walter Mazzarri that will be a concern.
Jermain Defoe made a goalscoring return for England in midweek and the striker could well be the difference at Vicarage Road to give the bottom side a lifeline in their bid to stay up.
Southampton 3 Bournemouth 2
Why? Two sides who are a lot of fun. They can attack well, but neither are too solid at the back. Southampton have been playing great football of late. They were terrific in the League Cup final and should have scored more than four at Watford in a 4-3 win.
While the likely loss of Manolo Gabbiadini due to a groin strain is a blow, Nathan Redmond is playing well enough for his absence to be minimal.
Swansea City 2 Middlesbrough 0
Why? Managerless Middlesbrough have not won since December 17 and this is a crucial match for them. They need the win ideally, a draw is not great, but a defeat against one of their relegation rivals would be devastating.
Unfortunately, with Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente on form, and Swansea superb at home, having won their past three games at the Liberty Stadium, it is hard to be positive about Middlesbrough’s chances.
Arsenal 1 Manchester City 3
Why? City have had their moments of disappointment of late, but they have still looked far stronger than a woeful Arsenal, who have lost four of their past five games.
City were unlucky not to beat Liverpool last time out, with Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne showing signs of getting back to their best, and they should be too strong for Arsenal to pile further misery on Arsene Wenger.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
WORLD RECORD FEES FOR GOALKEEPERS
1) Kepa Arrizabalaga, Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea (£72m)
2) Alisson, Roma to Liverpool (£67m)
3) Ederson, Benfica to Manchester City (£35m)
4) Gianluigi Buffon, Parma to Juventus (£33m)
5) Angelo Peruzzi, Inter Milan to Lazio (£15.7m
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.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
SPECS
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MATCH SCHEDULE
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Tuesday, April 24 (10.45pm)
Liverpool v Roma
Wednesday, April 25
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid (10.45pm)
Europa League semi-final, first leg
Thursday, April 26
Arsenal v Atletico Madrid (11.05pm)
Marseille v Salzburg (11.05pm)
AIR
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Banthology: Stories from Unwanted Nations
Edited by Sarah Cleave, Comma Press
How to report a beggar
Abu Dhabi – Call 999 or 8002626 (Aman Service)
Dubai – Call 800243
Sharjah – Call 065632222
Ras Al Khaimah - Call 072053372
Ajman – Call 067401616
Umm Al Quwain – Call 999
Fujairah - Call 092051100 or 092224411
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
Syria squad
Goalkeepers: Ibrahim Alma, Mahmoud Al Youssef, Ahmad Madania.
Defenders: Ahmad Al Salih, Moayad Ajan, Jehad Al Baour, Omar Midani, Amro Jenyat, Hussein Jwayed, Nadim Sabagh, Abdul Malek Anezan.
Midfielders: Mahmoud Al Mawas, Mohammed Osman, Osama Omari, Tamer Haj Mohamad, Ahmad Ashkar, Youssef Kalfa, Zaher Midani, Khaled Al Mobayed, Fahd Youssef.
Forwards: Omar Khribin, Omar Al Somah, Mardik Mardikian.
