Manuel Pellegrini challenged his Manchester City stars to set their sights on a quadruple after they swept into the League Cup final in emphatic fashion.
Pellegrini’s side showed no mercy as two goals from Alvaro Negredo and a Sergio Aguero strike crushed West Ham 3-0 in the League Cup semi-final second leg at Upton Park on Tuesday.
The ruthless display in east London sealed a 9-0 aggregate triumph that was the largest semi-final margin of victory in the history of the competition.
City can now look forward to a Wembley showdown against Manchester United or Sunderland on March 2, which gives Pellegrini a chance to secure the first trophy since he arrived as Roberto Mancini’s replacement in the close-season.
The League Cup remains very much fourth priority on Pellegrini’s to-do list however, and the Chilean believes success in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup is also still a distinct possibility if City can maintain their current free-scoring form.
“I’m very proud of the team. We arrived in the final winning the five games with 19 goals scored, with just one goal conceded,” Pellegrini said.
“Always a final at Wembley is a very important final and I’m very proud of the team that we are still in four competitions.
“Now we’ve finished with the League Cup until March. It’s very important to continue in the FA Cup, so we must win against Watford.
“We’ll continue with the same winning and ambitious mentality.
“We are thinking about winning every match.”
City are now unbeaten in their last 18 matches in all competitions, and with their forward line functioning as well as any in Europe, a clean sweep of the four trophies can’t be ruled out.
Aguero is already back in top form after recovering from a calf injury suffered in December, while Negredo, Jesus Navas and even teenage winger Marcos Lopes, who impressed on a rare start against West Ham, add guile and grace to the City attack.
Pellegrini won’t let his players get too carried away just yet though and he added: “We have a lot of work to do. In the FA Cup we are just in the fourth round.
“In the Champions League we have a tough game against Barcelona.
“The Premier League’s very close and it will still be close till the end between four or five teams.
“At the moment we are happy the way we are doing things. We must continue in the future the same way.”
Pellegrini, who has never been to Wembley as a manager, is unconcerned who his side face in the final and he said: “Wembley’s special for everyone.
“Both teams would be difficult. Maybe everybody thinks Manchester United would be our rival in the final, but Sunderland has options.”
Meanwhile, West Ham manager Sam Allardyce was left to lament further injuries as midfielders Joe Cole and Mohamed Diame went off with groin and knee problems respectively.
The Hammers’ focus now turns to their fight for Premier League survival, something Allardyce believes hinges on the fitness of his players and new signings.
Ricardo Vaz Te, Guy Demel, Joey O’Brien, George McCartney and Winston Reid are all nearing returns.
“If you give me all them fit from as quickly as possible until the end of the season, I think we’ll come out of this,” Allardyce said.
“Forty points is the safe zone over more than 10 years now. It’s got to be 22 points minimum for me in the last 16 (games).”
Allardyce has been trying to strengthen his squad in the transfer market and was frustrated at missing out on striker Lacina Traore, who now appears set to join Everton on loan from Monaco.
Asked if he is likely to make any signings before next week’s match at Chelsea, Allardyce said: “I wouldn’t have a clue at the minute. Every time I get a new signing somebody else takes him.”
More on Quran memorisation:
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
'Champions'
Director: Manuel Calvo
Stars: Yassir Al Saggaf and Fatima Al Banawi
Rating: 2/5
Tour de France Stage 16:
165km run from Le Puy-en-Velay to Romans-sur-Isère
The Comeback: Elvis And The Story Of The 68 Special
Simon Goddard
Omnibus Press
Match info
Uefa Nations League A Group 4
England 2 (Lingard 78', Kane 85')
Croatia 1 (Kramaric 57')
Man of the match: Harry Kane (England)
Race card
5pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; 5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m
6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; 6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (PA) 1,400m
Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
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.”
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
Florida: The critical Sunshine State
Though mostly conservative, Florida is usually always “close” in presidential elections. In most elections, the candidate that wins the Sunshine State almost always wins the election, as evidenced in 2016 when Trump took Florida, a state which has not had a democratic governor since 1991.
Joe Biden’s campaign has spent $100 million there to turn things around, understandable given the state’s crucial 29 electoral votes.
In 2016, Mr Trump’s democratic rival Hillary Clinton paid frequent visits to Florida though analysts concluded that she failed to appeal towards middle-class voters, whom Barack Obama won over in the previous election.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Baby Driver
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Lily James
Three and a half stars
MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
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Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
What is THAAD?
It is considered to be the US' most superior missile defence system.
Production:
It was first created in 2008.
Speed:
THAAD missiles can travel at over Mach 8, so fast that it is hypersonic.
Abilities:
THAAD is designed to take out projectiles, namely ballistic missiles, as they are on their downward trajectory towards their target, otherwise known as the "terminal phase".
Purpose:
To protect high-value strategic sites, such as airfields or population centres.
Range:
THAAD can target projectiles both inside and outside of the Earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of 93 miles above the Earth's surface.
Creators:
Lockheed Martin was originally granted the contract to develop the system in 1992. Defence company Raytheon sub-contracts to develop other major parts of the system, such as ground-based radar.
UAE and THAAD:
In 2011, the UAE became the first country outside of the US to buy two THAAD missile defence systems. It then deployed them in 2016, becoming the first Gulf country to do so.
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
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