Thomas Woods looks at some of the football weekend's biggest talking points. Click or swipe through for more.
Five games to save Liverpool’s season
A month ago Liverpool were Premier League title contenders. Now they are clinging on to their top-four spot for dear life.
With Manchester United, Arsenal and Manchester City all facing very winnable games this weekend, Liverpool’s home match with Tottenham takes on huge significance.
Lose and they could be two points adrift in fifth and they have a tricky run coming up – especially for a team who haven’t won in five games.
Leicester away, Arsenal and Burnley at home, followed by a trip to the Etihad Stadium to play Manchester City.
Two teams scrapping for every point and two Champions League rivals.
Jurgen Klopp needs to find answers to his side’s poor form.
What’s up with Muller?
Look at these numbers: 23, 26, 21, 31… 4.
These are Thomas Muller’s goal tallies for Bayern Munich over the past five seasons. With about a third of the campaign to go, he is stuck in a major goal drought.
The German international has just one league goal this season and has lost his role as an integral part of Bayern’s squad.
This is a man who top scored at the 2010 World Cup and hit five at the 2014 World Cup.
He was subject to a huge bid from Manchester United last summer and maybe, at 27 and with nearly 400 Bayern games under his belt, a change of environment is needed for him to find his goalscoring boots again.
The risk of course is that a move away turns out like Pedro’s departure from Barcelona after nine seasons there. It took the Spaniard more than a season to really find his feet at Chelsea.
Ranieri’s last chance
Leicester’s board has given manager Claudio Ranieri a vote of confidence and in English football that usually means he will get the sack shortly.
It could be as soon as next week. Leicester travel to relegation rivals Swansea on Sunday without a league goal in 2017.
That’s a woeful run and the side Ranieri picked for Wednesday’s home FA Cup replay against Derby – a second string – shows where his priorities now lie.
It’s astonishing to think that a team that won the title last season could be relegated, but Leicester have the fourth worst form in the league over the last six games and every key player is under-performing.
If they fail to beat Swansea, don’t be surprised to see Ranieri given the boot in desperation.
Is Mertens the hottest striker in Europe?
Napoli lost star striker Gonzalo Higuain to arch-rivals Juventus in the summer and then saw his replacement, Polish hot-shot Arkadiusz Milik, go down with a serious knee injury in October.
It looked like a bleak situation in terms of finding a regular source of goals, but up stepped Dries Mertens.
The Belgian winger was switched to centre-forward and hasn’t looked back.
He’s been so successful in fact that Napoli sold his back-up, Manolo Gabbiadini, to Southampton in the January transfer window.
Mertens has as many Serie A goals as Higuain (16) and has netted 13 in his last eight league games.
That is sensational.
Aguero on his way out?
It’s hard to make a case for Sergio Aguero being picked ahead of young Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus for Manchester City when they travel to Bournemouth on Saturday.
Jesus Gabriel has scored three in his last two games including a last-minute winner at home to Swansea on Sunday.
He’s slotted perfectly into a 4-1-4-1 formation that Pep Guardiola has started playing.
There’s only room for one striker and neither Aguero nor Jesus Gabriel would be playing to their strengths in a deeper role.
There are rumours that Aguero will be leaving City in the summer and Jesus Gabriel’s form might be one of the factors that convinces the Argentine to try something new.
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Match info:
Real Betis v Sevilla, 10.45pm (UAE)
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
2.0
Director: S Shankar
Producer: Lyca Productions; presented by Dharma Films
Cast: Rajnikanth, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Sudhanshu Pandey
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
The%20Color%20Purple
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs: 2019 Mercedes-Benz C200 Coupe
Price, base: Dh201,153
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 204hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 300Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.7L / 100km
FORSPOKEN
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Diablo%20IV
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Assassin's%20Creed%20Mirage
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Starfield
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Mountain Classification Tour de France after Stage 8 on Saturday:
- 1. Lilian Calmejane (France / Direct Energie) 11
- 2. Fabio Aru (Italy / Astana) 10
- 3. Daniel Martin (Ireland / Quick-Step) 8
- 4. Robert Gesink (Netherlands / LottoNL) 8
- 5. Warren Barguil (France / Sunweb) 7
- 6. Chris Froome (Britain / Team Sky) 6
- 7. Guillaume Martin (France / Wanty) 6
- 8. Jan Bakelants (Belgium / AG2R) 5
- 9. Serge Pauwels (Belgium / Dimension Data) 5
- 10. Richie Porte (Australia / BMC Racing) 4
The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE