It was a significant week at the top end of the Premier League as Manchester City climbed to the summit with just six games of the season remaining.
The defending champions, aiming to become the first English club to win the title four years in a row, moved top with a 5-1 victory over relegation-threatened Luton Town at the Etihad on Saturday.
City lead by just two points, and while Liverpool and Arsenal had opportunities to climb back above Pep Guardiola's side on Sunday both fell to home defeats; first, the Reds were beaten 1-0 by Crystal Palace at Anfield, before the Gunners were undone by two late goals in a 2-0 loss to Aston Villa at the Emirates.
That leaves City in control of their own destiny and surely favourites to clinch yet another Premier League title.
The round began on Saturday afternoon at St James' Park, where Newcastle United dominated Tottenham with a 4-0 victory to move up to sixth while knocking Spurs out of the top four.
Also on Saturday, Brentford pushed Sheffield United closer to relegation with a 2-0 home win, Nottingham Forest and Wolves played out a 2-2 draw at the City Ground, and Burnley held Brighton to a 1-1 draw at Turf Moor.
In the day's late game, Bournemouth were unlucky not to be awarded a last-minute penalty against Manchester United and had to settle for a 2-2 draw. United are winless in their last four, increasing the pressure on manager Erik ten Hag.
In addition to the defeats for Liverpool and Arsenal on Sunday, Fulham beat city rivals West Ham 2-0 at the London Stadium.
The round concluded on Monday night with history being made at Stamford Bridge, where Cole Palmer scored four goals in the 6-0 demolition of Everton.
Here is our Premier League team of the week.
GK: Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa)
Back at his old club, Martinez played a key role in damaging Arsenal's title bid while boosting Aston Villa's top-four hopes. The Argentine kept a clean sheet in the 2-0 win and produced a brilliant, point-blank range save from Leandro Trossard to keep the game scoreless. It was a pivotal moment ahead of Villa scoring two late goals.
DF: Fabian Schar (Newcastle)
Perhaps fortuitous not to get booked for an early challenge on Son Heung-min, but Schar set about leaving his mark on the game. The Swiss centre-back was rock solid for Newcastle throughout, giving the Spurs attack little time or space, and his performance was rewarded by scoring his side's fourth goal.
DF: Joachim Andersen (Crystal Palace)
Whenever Palace produce a strong defensive performance, invariably Andersen is the main reason. Under constant pressure from a Liverpool side who had nearly 70 per cent possession and registered 21 shots, the Danish defender held firm and marshalled his backline with a commanding display to help his side to an impressive victory. Anderson has a strong shout to be Palace's player of the season.
DF: Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City)
The Croatian had been in and out of the City team in recent months but an injury to Nathan Ake has seen him return to the side, and in some style, too. After scoring against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in midweek to help secure a 3-3 draw in the Champions League quarter-final first leg, Gvardiol was on target again in the rout of Luton. His goal came six minutes after he assisted Jeremy Doku for City's fourth.
CM: Moises Caicedo (Chelsea)
Caicedo's time at Chelsea so far has been up and down but his imperious performance against Everton was by far his best. The Ecuadorian completely dominated the midfield, snapping into tackles, sharply intercepting balls, and distributing passes with pace and purpose. Had a role in the fourth goal, scored by Nicolas Jackson. The sort of display that convinced Chelsea to pay £100m for him last summer.
CM: Andreas Pereira (Fulham)
Fulham schooled West Ham at the London Stadium and should have won by more than two goals. As it was, Perreira's double was enough to secure a thoroughly deserved victory. The Brazilian opened the scoring with a fine finish, feinting to send Konstantinos Mavropanos and Lukasz Fabianski the wrong way before slamming his shot into the roof of the net. His second capped off an excellent counter by the visitors.
CM: Youri Tielemans (Aston Villa)
Facing Arsenal's formidable midfield, Tielemans more than held his own against Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice and could have scored an absolute stunner, only to see his effort canon off the crossbar and post. The Belgian then created Villa's second goal, intercepting a loose pass from Oleksandr Zinchenko and sending a perfectly weighted long ball forward for Ollie Watkins to score.
LW: Anthony Gordon (Newcastle)
Gordon is enjoying a breakthrough season for Newcastle and was at his unplayable best against Tottenham. The England winger assisted Alexander Isak's opening goal, then doubled his side's lead just two minutes later. He continued to torment the Spurs defence all afternoon and now has 18 Premier League goal involvements (10 scored, eight assisted).
RW: Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
Palmer was aiming to become the first Chelsea player to score in seven successive Premier League games at Stamford Bridge. He achieved that within 13 minutes, then went on a rampage. After his classy first finish with his left foot, he scored his second with a header and completed his perfect hat-trick with a long-range right-footed effort after seizing on Jordan Pickford's loose pass. Added his fourth from the penalty spot midway through the second half. The 21-year-old England winger is now level with Erling Haaland on 20 goals in the race for the Golden Boot. A sensational debut season.
CF: Alexander Isak (Newcastle)
Chasing Palmer and Haaland for the Premier League Golden Boot is Newcastle's Isak, who boosted his own chances with a well-taken double against Tottenham. The Swedish striker is so cool and calm in front of goal; his first showed his skill and speed of thought by cutting inside on his right foot and lashing past Guglielmo Vicario, while his second displayed his speed and composure when he got on the end of Bruno Guimaraes' long-ball to slot past the goalkeeper with his left. Now on 17 league goals for the season.
CF: Matheus Cunha (Wolves)
Cunha first joined Wolves on loan last January, but with two goals in 17 league appearances, he hardly set the Premier League alight. Now in his first full season at the club, the Brazilian has been superb in a Wolves side rejuvenated under Gary O'Neill. Cunha scored a top-class opener to give Wolves the lead at Nottingham Forest, while his scrappy second rescued a point for the visitors.
Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
CONFIRMED%20LINE-UP
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
War
Director: Siddharth Anand
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Ashutosh Rana, Vaani Kapoor
Rating: Two out of five stars
IF YOU GO
The flights: FlyDubai offers direct flights to Catania Airport from Dubai International Terminal 2 daily with return fares starting from Dh1,895.
The details: Access to the 2,900-metre elevation point at Mount Etna by cable car and 4x4 transport vehicle cost around €57.50 (Dh248) per adult. Entry into Teatro Greco costs €10 (Dh43). For more go to www.visitsicily.info
Where to stay: Hilton Giardini Naxos offers beachfront access and accessible to Taormina and Mount Etna. Rooms start from around €130 (Dh561) per night, including taxes.
ENGLAND TEAM
Alastair Cook, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Joe Root (captain), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Craig Overton, Stuart Broad, James Anderson
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.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
more from Janine di Giovanni
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Expo details
Expo 2020 Dubai will be the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia
The world fair will run for six months from October 20, 2020 to April 10, 2021.
It is expected to attract 25 million visits
Some 70 per cent visitors are projected to come from outside the UAE, the largest proportion of international visitors in the 167-year history of World Expos.
More than 30,000 volunteers are required for Expo 2020
The site covers a total of 4.38 sqkm, including a 2 sqkm gated area
It is located adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
MATCH INFO
Wales 1 (Bale 45 3')
Croatia 1 (Vlasic 09')
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
The distance learning plan
Spring break will be from March 8 - 19
Public school pupils will undergo distance learning from March 22 - April 2. School hours will be 8.30am to 1.30pm
Staff will be trained in distance learning programmes from March 15 - 19
Teaching hours will be 8am to 2pm during distance learning
Pupils will return to school for normal lessons from April 5
ICC Awards for 2021
MEN
Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)
Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)
WOMEN
Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
SM Town Live is on Friday, April 6 at Autism Rocks Arena, Dubai. Tickets are Dh375 at www.platinumlist.net
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PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
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Confirmed%20bouts%20(more%20to%20be%20added)
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Where to submit a sample
Volunteers of all ages can submit DNA samples at centres across Abu Dhabi, including: Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec), Biogenix Labs in Masdar City, NMC Royal Hospital in Khalifa City, NMC Royal Medical Centre, Abu Dhabi, NMC Royal Women's Hospital, Bareen International Hospital, Al Towayya in Al Ain, NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain
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