Chelsea and Liverpool played out a pulsating 2-2 Premier League draw at Stamford Bridge on Sunday in one of the games of the season.
The visitors had stormed to a two-goal lead through Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, only for Thomas Tuchel's side to haul themselves level thanks to Mateo Kovacic and Christian Pulisic strikes before half-time.
The talk at kick-off had been about who was not playing in London. Tuchel had made the huge call to drop record signing Romelu Lukaku after the Belgian's critical comments about the Chelsea manager's playing system in an interview with Sky Italia. “The thing got too big and too noisy,” said the German before the game.
Liverpool were missing goalkeeper Alisson Becker, centre-back Joel Matip and attacker Roberto Firmino — as well as manager Jurgen Klopp — due to a Covid-19 outbreak at the Merseyside club.
But those that were on the pitch made it a game to remember from the first whistle to the last. A relentless first half almost saw the defining moment in the first 10 seconds. Mane was booked for banging his arm into Cesar Azpilicueta’s face jumping for a high ball, when the challenge could so easily have been a red card.
Trevoh Chalobah’s loose header let Salah in only for Edouard Mendy to palm impressively away, and then Pulisic lingered too long in a one-on-one to allow Alisson’s understudy Caoimhin Kelleher to tap clear.
The struggling Chalobah saw no reprieve from his second botched header however, with Mane latching on to the loose ball and slotting home.
Salah doubled the visitors’ lead inside the half-hour to put Liverpool seemingly in total control. Antonio Rudiger stepped up tight on Salah only for Liverpool to work the Egyptian into a one-on-one with Marcos Alonso. The free-scoring forward breezed through and then delivered a deft disguised finish to beat Mendy at his near post.
Chalobah conjured a last-ditch sliding tackle to thwart the rampaging Salah in another Reds raid. And Mason Mount was left to breathe easy when VAR opted against a red card following a tussle with Kostas Tsimikas.
But suddenly, from a maelstrom of mistakes and mishaps, Chelsea battled their way back to parity. Alonso’s whipped free-kick forced Kelleher to parry to the edge of the area, where the lurking Kovacic adjusted his feet superbly to lash into the net.
The Croatia midfielder hopped on his left foot to create the first-time strike, and the reward had Stamford Bridge in a spin. A spurious VAR check for offside had an angry Tuchel booting a drinks bucket on the touchline but the goal stood and Chelsea were off the canvas.
Just four minutes later they were level, Pulisic racing on to N’Golo Kante’s chipped ball to dab past Kelleher with a fine first-touch finish.
Both sides looked desperate to win the match before the interval, with the atmosphere whipped up into a frenzy.
The clash still continued to captivate after the break. Mendy somehow back-pedalled quickly enough to tip away a long-range Salah strike, before palming away another Mane effort.
Chelsea settled though, and Pulisic drew a smart stop from Kelleher after Mount failed to connect with a near-post cross.
The draw leaves Chelsea second in the table, 10 points adrift of leaders Manchester City, while Liverpool are a point further back in third but with a game in hand on both of the sides above them.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Results:
6.30pm: Maiden Dh 165,000 1,400m.
Winner: Walking Thunder, Connor Beasley (jockey), Ahmad bin Harmash (trainer).
7.05pm: Handicap (rated 72-87) Dh 165,000 1,600m.
Winner: Syncopation, George Buckell, Doug Watson.
7.40pm: Maiden Dh 165,000 1,400m.
Winner: Big Brown Bear, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.15pm: Handicap (75-95) Dh 190,000 1,200m.
Winner: Stunned, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Handicap (85-105) Dh 210,000 2,000m.
Winner: New Trails, Connor Beasley, Ahmad bin Harmash.
9.25pm: Handicap (75-95) Dh 190,000 1,600m.
Winner: Pillar Of Society, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20myZoi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Syed%20Ali%2C%20Christian%20Buchholz%2C%20Shanawaz%20Rouf%2C%20Arsalan%20Siddiqui%2C%20Nabid%20Hassan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2037%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Initial%20undisclosed%20funding%20from%20SC%20Ventures%3B%20second%20round%20of%20funding%20totalling%20%2414%20million%20from%20a%20consortium%20of%20SBI%2C%20a%20Japanese%20VC%20firm%2C%20and%20SC%20Venture%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
WHAT ARE NFTs?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are tokens that represent ownership of unique items. They allow the tokenisation of things such as art, collectibles and even real estate.
An NFT can have only one official owner at one time. And since they're minted and secured on the Ethereum blockchain, no one can modify the record of ownership, not even copy-paste it into a new one.
This means NFTs are not interchangeable and cannot be exchanged with other items. In contrast, fungible items, such as fiat currencies, can be exchanged because their value defines them rather than their unique properties.
Cricket World Cup League 2 Fixtures
Saturday March 5, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy (all matches start at 9.30am)
Sunday March 6, Oman v Namibia, ICC Academy
Tuesday March 8, UAE v Namibia, ICC Academy
Wednesday March 9, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy
Friday March 11, Oman v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Saturday March 12, UAE v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri, Muhammad Waseem, CP Rizwan, Vriitya Aravind, Asif Khan, Basil Hameed, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Karthik Meiyappan, Akif Raja, Rahul Bhatia
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Dr Graham's three goals
Short term
Establish logistics and systems needed to globally deploy vaccines
Intermediate term
Build biomedical workforces in low- and middle-income nations
Long term
A prototype pathogen approach for pandemic preparedness
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
