With the Premier League title and top four all but decided, the relegation zone is where it is all going on. Thomas Woods analyses each team's chances of survival
Blackburn Rovers 39 pts
Points will probably be scarce for Blackburn for the rest of the season. Manchester United travel to Ewood Park on Saturday - a tough enough assignment in any case, but United are on a wave and need a point to win the title. The chances are United will win.
The last day sees Blackburn travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Four of the pair's last five meetings at Molineux have ended in a draw, making that the most likely result. Still, 40 points should keep Blackburn up.
Birmingham City 39 pts
Birmingham also have no need to worry about going down. The visit of Fulham on Sunday is more than likely to yield the points they need.
Fulham have only won twice away in 35 matches, Birmingham have lost only four of their 18 home games. They should get at least the point they need, which will enable them to relax when they visit Tottenham Hotspur on the last day of the season. Spurs have struggled to beat teams in the bottom third.
Wolves 37pts
A big win over local rivals West Bromwich Albion on Sunday took Wolves out of the bottom three for the first time in nine games. Yet confidence might be premature.
They visit Sunderland next, who, although they have a plethora of injuries, have a magnificent record against Wolves at the Stadium of Light. The last four meetings there have seen four Sunderland wins. Wolves have not won on Wearside since 1993.
With Mick McCarty's side then likely to draw with Blackburn, as pointed out above, it will leave them on 38 points, one per game.
Blackpool 36 pts
Blackpool have been gradually slipping down the table since their early season start - they were fourth after four games. Bolton Wanderers are the visitors on Saturday.
Blackpool have the league's worst defensive record at home, leaking 1.89 goals per game and keeping just one clean sheet. They also have the worst record at home full stop, losing half their games.
Then follows a trip to Manchester United. The assumption is that United will rest players for the Champions League final, presuming they have already won the league. This does not mean an easy game for Blackpool though.
In 2007, United rested players and lost to West Ham United 1-0 on the last day of the season, but still had 25 shots on goal. A season later an even more second-string side beat Hull City 2-0 away. Blackpool cannot expect any favours.
Wigan Athletic 36 pts
Roberto Martinez's side have been showing signs of form in recent weeks, taking the lead twice - against Everton and Aston Villa - before drawing 1-1. On Sunday they take on the team with the worst form in the league - West Ham - at home. The Hammers have lost five and drawn one in their last six, whereas Wigan have only lost two in six. Wigan have also won two of their last three at home to West Ham. If they beat Avram Grant's side, Wigan have a great chance of staying up, and it would render their final game at Stoke City irrelevant.
West Ham United 33 pts
Gloom and doom are the words that best sum up West Ham's situation. They realistically need to win both their games - the aforementioned trip to Wigan followed by Sunderland at home.
Saturday's 1-1 draw with Blackburn ended a run of five defeats, they have not won in seven games.
Their attack is the 16th worst (just 1.14 goals per game) and their defence is 18th (1.78 conceded per game). If as predicted, they lose to Wigan, they will go down.
twoods@thenational.ae
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
RESULT
Arsenal 0 Chelsea 3
Chelsea: Willian (40'), Batshuayi (42', 49')
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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.”
