Chelsea do not have five peaks to scale as much one mountain and five hillocks. The path to the title features five obstacles, but the first is the greatest.
They face Everton, Middlesbrough, West Bromwich Albion, Watford and Sunderland, three at home, two perhaps doomed to relegation.
With a four-point advantage, Antonio Conte’s side can actually afford to lose at Goodison Park on Sunday and still become champions.
Escape from a trip to Merseyside unscathed, however, and they would seem unstoppable.
“What happens this Sunday can be really decisive about the title race,” Everton manager Ronald Koeman said.
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Read more
■ Predictions: Chelsea draw, Tottenham win as gap closes to two points
■ Diego Forlan: Man United should break the bank for Antoine Griezmann
■ Burnley: On course for safety but drop in form is cause for concern
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While Conte stuck to the mantra that his side have to fight to the end, the sense is the Italian long recognised that.
He began last week’s FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur with Diego Costa and Eden Hazard on the bench; perhaps not so much with Southampton in mind as Everton.
Tuesday’s visitors were duly beaten 4-2 but it is safe to assume Everton loomed larger in his imagination.
Chelsea certainly figured prominently in Koeman’s mind. Two weeks ago, after Burnley were beaten to seal Everton’s Premier League record eighth successive home league win, he immediately mentioned that Chelsea came next. It was an early warning a run could end.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman. Ed Sykes / Reuters
By this week, Koeman was more buoyant, talking of Everton’s historic home’s capacity to intimidate.
“Opposition teams have more doubts these days when they come to Goodison and that’s a good thing,” he said.
Only Tottenham and Chelsea themselves boast better home records this season, yet the league leaders had prior knowledge of the difficulties of going to Merseyside.
They suffered three defeats in the past three seasons, interrupted only by a 6-3 win that Jose Mourinho claimed not to enjoy; the anarchy jarred with his innate preference for control.
Diego Costa was sent off during the FA Cup clash last March. Paul Ellis / AFP
Costa was sent off in a 2-0 FA Cup defeat last March, six months after the transformation of title winners into surprise strugglers was fast-tracked by a Steven Naismith hat-trick.
Go back a further two years and Naismith condemned Mourinho to the first defeat of his second spell in charge.
Chelsea may take solace from the fact their unglamorous tormentor now plays in the Championship for Norwich. A player with rather more pedigree offers a greater threat.
Lukaku never scored in 15 appearances for the Londoners, largely as a replacement. He has become the first player to strike in nine successive games at Goodison Park since Dixie Dean 83 years ago.
He is tipped to rejoin Chelsea in the summer. This could seem a job interview for a potential £100 million (Dh475.7m) man.
Romelu Lukaku leads the Premier League goal-scoring charts. Andrew Yates / Reuters
“He is a really good player,” Conte said. “We must find a solution to stop Lukaku.”
Koeman may revisit a solution he devised to stop Conte. The Dutchman was the first manager to alight on the system others have used successfully against Chelsea, lining up with three at the back at Stamford Bridge in November.
It ranked as a disastrous experiment that others – Mauricio Pochettino and Mourinho in particular – learned from.
Koeman was without the suspended Idrissa Gueye and the injured James McCarthy, fielded a powder-puff midfield of Gareth Barry and Tom Cleverley and Everton were overrun. Hazard was rampant in a 5-0 win.
Antonio Conte has said winning the Premier League with Chelsea this season will be his best achievement as a manager. Facundo Arrizabalaga / EPA
Everton are an altogether stronger proposition now, Chelsea, without a clean sheet in the league since January, a more fallible one.
Yet they have responded to their evisceration at Old Trafford by showing character and flair in equal measure to see off Tottenham and Southampton, both 4-2.
A third triumph would render this the finest week of Conte’s reign and, as he would deem winning the Premier League his greatest feat in management, perhaps the best of his coaching career.
He only really has one more mountain to climb.
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Tributes from the UAE's personal finance community
• Sebastien Aguilar, who heads SimplyFI.org, a non-profit community where people learn to invest Bogleheads’ style
“It is thanks to Jack Bogle’s work that this community exists and thanks to his work that many investors now get the full benefits of long term, buy and hold stock market investing.
Compared to the industry, investing using the common sense approach of a Boglehead saves a lot in costs and guarantees higher returns than the average actively managed fund over the long term.
From a personal perspective, learning how to invest using Bogle’s approach was a turning point in my life. I quickly realised there was no point chasing returns and paying expensive advisers or platforms. Once money is taken care off, you can work on what truly matters, such as family, relationships or other projects. I owe Jack Bogle for that.”
• Sam Instone, director of financial advisory firm AES International
"Thought to have saved investors over a trillion dollars, Jack Bogle’s ideas truly changed the way the world invests. Shaped by his own personal experiences, his philosophy and basic rules for investors challenged the status quo of a self-interested global industry and eventually prevailed. Loathed by many big companies and commission-driven salespeople, he has transformed the way well-informed investors and professional advisers make decisions."
• Demos Kyprianou, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"Jack Bogle for me was a rebel, a revolutionary who changed the industry and gave the little guy like me, a chance. He was also a mentor who inspired me to take the leap and take control of my own finances."
• Steve Cronin, founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com
"Obsessed with reducing fees, Jack Bogle structured Vanguard to be owned by its clients – that way the priority would be fee minimisation for clients rather than profit maximisation for the company.
His real gift to us has been the ability to invest in the stock market (buy and hold for the long term) rather than be forced to speculate (try to make profits in the shorter term) or even worse have others speculate on our behalf.
Bogle has given countless investors the ability to get on with their life while growing their wealth in the background as fast as possible. The Financial Independence movement would barely exist without this."
• Zach Holz, who blogs about financial independence at The Happiest Teacher
"Jack Bogle was one of the greatest forces for wealth democratisation the world has ever seen. He allowed people a way to be free from the parasitical "financial advisers" whose only real concern are the fat fees they get from selling you over-complicated "products" that have caused millions of people all around the world real harm.”
• Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"In an industry that’s synonymous with greed, Jack Bogle was a lone wolf, swimming against the tide. When others were incentivised to enrich themselves, he stood by the ‘fiduciary’ standard – something that is badly needed in the financial industry of the UAE."
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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
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Brief scoreline:
Wales 1
James 5'
Slovakia 0
Man of the Match: Dan James (Wales)
The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Power: 575bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh554,000
On sale: now
The biog
Hobbies: Salsa dancing “It's in my blood” and listening to music in different languages
Favourite place to travel to: “Thailand, as it's gorgeous, food is delicious, their massages are to die for!”
Favourite food: “I'm a vegetarian, so I can't get enough of salad.”
Favourite film: “I love watching documentaries, and am fascinated by nature, animals, human anatomy. I love watching to learn!”
Best spot in the UAE: “I fell in love with Fujairah and anywhere outside the big cities, where I can get some peace and get a break from the busy lifestyle”
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score)
Porto (0) v Liverpool (2), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani
Rating: 3.5 stars
Types of policy
Term life insurance: this is the cheapest and most-popular form of life cover. You pay a regular monthly premium for a pre-agreed period, typically anything between five and 25 years, or possibly longer. If you die within that time, the policy will pay a cash lump sum, which is typically tax-free even outside the UAE. If you die after the policy ends, you do not get anything in return. There is no cash-in value at any time. Once you stop paying premiums, cover stops.
Whole-of-life insurance: as its name suggests, this type of life cover is designed to run for the rest of your life. You pay regular monthly premiums and in return, get a guaranteed cash lump sum whenever you die. As a result, premiums are typically much higher than one term life insurance, although they do not usually increase with age. In some cases, you have to keep up premiums for as long as you live, although there may be a cut-off period, say, at age 80 but it can go as high as 95. There are penalties if you don’t last the course and you may get a lot less than you paid in.
Critical illness cover: this pays a cash lump sum if you suffer from a serious illness such as cancer, heart disease or stroke. Some policies cover as many as 50 different illnesses, although cancer triggers by far the most claims. The payout is designed to cover major financial responsibilities such as a mortgage or children’s education fees if you fall ill and are unable to work. It is cost effective to combine it with life insurance, with the policy paying out once if you either die or suffer a serious illness.
Income protection: this pays a replacement income if you fall ill and are unable to continue working. On the best policies, this will continue either until you recover, or reach retirement age. Unlike critical illness cover, policies will typically pay out for stress and musculoskeletal problems such as back trouble.
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
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Ain Issa camp:
- Established in 2016
- Houses 13,309 people, 2,092 families, 62 per cent children
- Of the adult population, 49 per cent men, 51 per cent women (not including foreigners annexe)
- Most from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa
- 950 foreigners linked to ISIS and their families
- NGO Blumont runs camp management for the UN
- One of the nine official (UN recognised) camps in the region
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
The biog
Family: wife, four children, 11 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren
Reads: Newspapers, historical, religious books and biographies
Education: High school in Thatta, a city now in Pakistan
Regrets: Not completing college in Karachi when universities were shut down following protests by freedom fighters for the British to quit India
Happiness: Work on creative ideas, you will also need ideals to make people happy
Company%20Profile
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Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
Expert advice
“Join in with a group like Cycle Safe Dubai or TrainYAS, where you’ll meet like-minded people and always have support on hand.”
Stewart Howison, co-founder of Cycle Safe Dubai and owner of Revolution Cycles
“When you sweat a lot, you lose a lot of salt and other electrolytes from your body. If your electrolytes drop enough, you will be at risk of cramping. To prevent salt deficiency, simply add an electrolyte mix to your water.”
Cornelia Gloor, head of RAK Hospital’s Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy Centre
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can ride as fast or as far during the summer as you do in cooler weather. The heat will make you expend more energy to maintain a speed that might normally be comfortable, so pace yourself when riding during the hotter parts of the day.”
Chandrashekar Nandi, physiotherapist at Burjeel Hospital in Dubai
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
The biog
Favourite pet: cats. She has two: Eva and Bito
Favourite city: Cape Town, South Africa
Hobby: Running. "I like to think I’m artsy but I’m not".
Favourite move: Romantic comedies, specifically Return to me. "I cry every time".
Favourite spot in Abu Dhabi: Saadiyat beach
