Vincent Kompany expects David Moyes to be studying the gameplans of Huddersfield Town and Southampton in search of a way to stop Manchester City.
But the City captain has warned the West Ham United manager that the Premier League leaders also expect to have learnt from their last games as they bid to get back to their dynamic best on Sunday.
Huddersfield and Southampton both went close to ending City's long winning run but their efforts were ultimately undone by late Raheem Sterling goals.
Moyes' West Ham are the next visitors to the Etihad Stadium as City look to extend a winning run that now stretches to 19 games in all competitions and 12 in the Premier League.
Kompany said: "I put myself in the position if I was the manager of West Ham, I suppose I would've seen the images against Southampton and Huddersfield, I would've seen what causes trouble and I would've trained extremely hard on those points for that game.
"But if I was the City manager, I would've seen the same thing and I would've trained extremely hard on making sure these teams cannot exploit that."
Huddersfield and Southampton both adopted cautious approaches, absorbing considerable pressure by defending deep but then posing a threat with the occasional counter-attack or from set pieces.
They may have fallen short but City, who earlier in the season enjoyed thumping wins over Liverpool (5-0), Watford (6-0), Crystal Palace (5-0) and Stoke City (7-2), have been stifled.
Kompany said: "I can see a period of time where teams will try to play this approach but as teams will need points eventually, as teams will need to further their own agenda, I think it will settle again and we will have a more open game with both teams trying to win it.
"In this case it's proven nearly successful for the teams who did it, but at the same time as they're adopting this approach, we're learning how to deal with it as well, so as soon as we find a way through it, I think it'll change again."
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Sunday's clash with West Ham will see the return to the Etihad Stadium of a former City favourite.
Pablo Zabaleta joined the Londoners in the summer after a nine-year spell at City that saw him win two Premier League titles, two League Cups and the FA Cup.
Such was the right-back's contribution to City's modern history, he was presented with a lifetime season ticket when he left.
Kompany said: "It'll be strange for him but I'm sure he'll get a warm reception.
"I kind of feel he'll be dreading this game as well a bit, knowing Zaba and knowing that he's been at the Etihad and seen what the players can do if it goes wrong for you.
"But knowing Zaba he'll probably rise up to the challenge and probably have his best game of the season.
"It'll be great and this place is always going to be his home, no matter what."
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.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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