Head coach Alan Irvine has warned West Bromwich Albion that Southampton’s summer fire sale has not torched the Saints’ threat.
Southampton have sold around £100 million (Dh609.2m) worth of players – including Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Dejan Lovren to Liverpool, Luke Shaw to Manchester United and Calum Chambers to Arsenal – during the close season.
They host West Brom in the English Premier League on Saturday after losing their opening game under Ronald Koeman, going down 2-1 at Liverpool.
But Irvine has told his side the Saints, who have spent £10.9m on Dusan Tadic from FC Twente and £8m on Graziano Pelle from Feyenoord, are still dangerous.
“Having been at Anfield last Sunday and watched how well they played and watched how many chances they were able to create at a really difficult place I think they can more than survive,” he said.
“I think they could have a very good season. They have spent the money very wisely and replaced very good players with very good players.
“I was very impressed with how they played at Anfield. Not many teams go to Anfield and make it go quiet but that certainly happened during periods of the game.
“They deserved something out of the game last week and I believe it will be a very tough place for teams to go this season.”
Koeman has replaced Lambert with former West Brom striker Shane Long in a £12m deal from Hull.
The Republic of Ireland striker only joined Hull from Albion in January, scoring four goals in 15 games, and Irvine is aware of his threat.
He said: “He’s a very good player for a start and is going to be an important player for them, sometimes former players come back to haunt you.
“We have just got to make sure if Shane does play from the start that we are ready to cope with the threat.”
James Morrison and Joleon Lescott have resumed training but are not fit after knee injuries while new signing Georgios Samaras is not in the squad after signing on Friday.
Irvine added: “The good news is when we started training on Thursday, every player in the squad was there. That included Joleon, though he only did the first part of the session which is what was planned for him and then went and joined the fitness coach.”
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Explainer: Tanween Design Programme
Non-profit arts studio Tashkeel launched this annual initiative with the intention of supporting budding designers in the UAE. This year, three talents were chosen from hundreds of applicants to be a part of the sixth creative development programme. These are architect Abdulla Al Mulla, interior designer Lana El Samman and graphic designer Yara Habib.
The trio have been guided by experts from the industry over the course of nine months, as they developed their own products that merge their unique styles with traditional elements of Emirati design. This includes laboratory sessions, experimental and collaborative practice, investigation of new business models and evaluation.
It is led by British contemporary design project specialist Helen Voce and mentor Kevin Badni, and offers participants access to experts from across the world, including the likes of UK designer Gareth Neal and multidisciplinary designer and entrepreneur, Sheikh Salem Al Qassimi.
The final pieces are being revealed in a worldwide limited-edition release on the first day of Downtown Designs at Dubai Design Week 2019. Tashkeel will be at stand E31 at the exhibition.
Lisa Ball-Lechgar, deputy director of Tashkeel, said: “The diversity and calibre of the applicants this year … is reflective of the dynamic change that the UAE art and design industry is witnessing, with young creators resolute in making their bold design ideas a reality.”
Australia World Cup squad
Aaron Finch (capt), Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Steve Smith, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Jhye Richardson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa
Hydrogen: Market potential
Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
Falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers used in green hydrogen production is one of the main catalysts for the increasingly bullish sentiment over the element.
The cost of electrolysers used in green hydrogen production has halved over the last five years and will fall to 60 to 90 per cent by the end of the decade, acceding to Haim Israel, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch. A global focus on decarbonisation and sustainability is also a big driver in its development.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Other key dates
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Finals draw: December 2
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Finals (including semi-finals and third-placed game): June 5–9, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-off draw: November 22, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-offs: March 26–31, 2020
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
