Joe Hart faces a fight to convince Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini he should be the English champions’ first-choice goalkeeper this season after Willy Caballero was preferred in the Community Shield loss to Arsenal.
Hart, who was dropped by Pellegrini midway through last season following a string of high-profile errors, was an unused substitute at Wembley, with the City boss afterwards refusing to offer any guarantees over places.
Read more: Manuel Pellegrini has two No 1 goalkeepers at Manchester City
“All the 22 players that we have in our squad must demonstrate who is number one in all the positions,” Pellegrini said.
“The goalkeeper and the other positions of the team are exactly the same.
“Joe finished last season playing very well. We’ll see next Sunday which 11 starts against Newcastle (in next Sunday’s Premier League opener).”
City had four Englishmen on the bench, including Hart, but none in the starting XI.
Nationality will not come into Pellegrini’s thinking during the season.
He said: “It doesn’t matter if they’re English players, American players, Spanish players. For me it’s exactly the same.
“In every competition we play I’ll play the team that I think is best to win that game.”
Pellegrini says he has little time to prepare his side for next week’s Premier League-opening trip to Newcastle, with numerous players having only recently returned following World Cup duty.
He said: “We have seven players who have just worked for five days. They were not considered for this game.
“We have another five players who have just worked for eight or nine days.
“It’s difficult to be ready in two weeks. Aguero, (Pablo) Zabaleta, (Martin) Demichelis, Kompany, (Bacary) Sagna, Fernandino just arrived seven days ago. They started working on Monday.
“They will have 15 days before we start the Premier League so we’ll see during the week which of them are ready and which of them are not ready.”
Captain Vincent Kompany was also watching from the stands - alongside Frank Lampard following his loan signing from New York City FC - as the fringe players did little to impress.
Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud were on target as the Gunners sauntered to a second Wembley win in 85 days and a second trophy after May’s FA Cup defeat of Hull ended a nine-year drought.
Pellegrini was encouraged by the second-half showing after a poor first 45 minutes.
He said: “We had two different faces. First half we didn’t play with the pace we did the whole pre-season and Arsenal scored two goals because we didn’t defend very well.
“The second half we played well, with possession of the ball, we had chances to score. It was really near to the team that I saw in pre-season.
“It is always bad to lose, but we don’t need to worry.”
Pellegrini could soon add to his defensive options, revealing France defender Eliaquim Mangala is close to a move from Porto.
Pellegrini told BT Sport: “Some papers are maybe missing but we continue having interest in the player, he wants to come so we will see what happens in the week.”
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Tamkeen's offering
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New Zealand squad
Tim Southee (capt), Trent Boult (games 4 and 5), Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson (games 1-3), Martin Guptill, Scott Kuggeleijn, Daryl Mitchell, Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Ross Taylor, Blair Tickner
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Brescia 1 (Skrinia og, 76)
Inter Milan 2 (Martinez 33, Lukaku 63)
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The Voice of Hind Rajab
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Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
The specs
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Schedule:
Sept 15: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka (Dubai)
Sept 16: Pakistan v Qualifier (Dubai)
Sept 17: Sri Lanka v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 18: India v Qualifier (Dubai)
Sept 19: India v Pakistan (Dubai)
Sept 20: Bangladesh v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi) Super Four
Sept 21: Group A Winner v Group B Runner-up (Dubai)
Sept 21: Group B Winner v Group A Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 23: Group A Winner v Group A Runner-up (Dubai)
Sept 23: Group B Winner v Group B Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 25: Group A Winner v Group B Winner (Dubai)
Sept 26: Group A Runner-up v Group B Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
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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.
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Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
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The Bio
Favourite place in UAE: Al Rams pearling village
What one book should everyone read: Any book written before electricity was invented. When a writer willingly worked under candlelight, you know he/she had a real passion for their craft
Your favourite type of pearl: All of them. No pearl looks the same and each carries its own unique characteristics, like humans
Best time to swim in the sea: When there is enough light to see beneath the surface
In The Heights
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Stars: Anthony Ramos, Lin-Manual Miranda
Rating: ****
What are the influencer academy modules?
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Bharat
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar
Starring: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sunil Grover
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
Specs
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GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
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