Chelsea's Cesar Azpilicueta will be in action against West Ham United on Saturday. Clive Rose / Getty Images
Chelsea's Cesar Azpilicueta will be in action against West Ham United on Saturday. Clive Rose / Getty Images

Azpilicueta: Chelsea must win to keep pressure on Manchester clubs in the Premier League



Chelsea must beat West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday to capitalise on points dropped by rivals in Sunday's Manchester derby, defender Cesar Azpilicueta said.

Champions Chelsea, who are 11 points behind leaders Manchester City, could go level with second-placed Manchester United with a win at West Ham's London Stadium in the lunchtime kickoff.

"The two (Manchester) teams can't both take three points, so every time you get an opportunity to get close, you have to take it," Azpilicueta told Sky Sports.

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"We have to be intelligent to look at ourselves and then we'll see how the opponents will react."

After a sloppy start to the season, Antonio Conte's Chelsea have collected six wins in last seven league games, with their only dropped points coming against Liverpool in a 1-1 draw at Anfield last month.

The festive fixture list looks a good chance for Chelsea to collect a healthy points haul as they are set to face opponents outside the top six in their next six league matches.

West Ham are second from bottom and have not won in their last eight league games.

"We have to go game by game in this busy period in December - every three days you are fighting for a big three points. We have to look at ourselves," Azpilicueta added.

"We will then see where we are in the final weeks of the season, where we could fight for it."

NO OTHER LAND

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Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

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Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

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Company profile

Company: Verity

Date started: May 2021

Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif

Based: Dubai

Sector: FinTech

Size: four team members

Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000

Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors

Profile

Company name: Jaib

Started: January 2018

Co-founders: Fouad Jeryes and Sinan Taifour

Based: Jordan

Sector: FinTech

Total transactions: over $800,000 since January, 2018

Investors in Jaib's mother company Alpha Apps: Aramex and 500 Startups

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

THE SPECS

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine 

Power: 420kW

Torque: 780Nm

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Price: From Dh1,350,000

On sale: Available for preorder now

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  • Premier League-standard football pitch
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  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
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Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa

Rating: 3/5

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CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections" 

SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom" 

Paatal Lok season two

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Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5