'Courageous' Aston Villa beat Arsenal to escape relegation zone with one game to go - in pictures


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Manager Dean Smith called on "courageous" Aston Villa to finish the job after an invaluable victory against Arsenal put them in pole position for Premier League survival.

Trezeguet struck an excellent winner after 27 minutes to grab a crucial 1-0 win at Villa Park.

It lifted Villa out of the relegation zone for the first time since February and they head to West Ham for Sunday's Premier League finale.

They are out of the drop zone on goal difference after Watford suffered a 4-0 hammering by Manchester City on Tuesday.

Villa now lead the race to beat relegation ahead of Watford and Bournemouth having been seven points from safety three games ago.

Smith said: "There's one game to go. All we have done is put it in our own hands and we have to put a performance in and get a win at West Ham.

"If we work as hard as we did and show the quality since the restart we have every chance.

"There was a lot of character and a lot of courage from the players. It was a massive performance and I am proud of the players for that but now we have to recover and get ready for our cup final.

"It was a big performance and an even bigger win. We knew we had to win at least one game to catch Watford up and to get that win was special.

"There was some heroic defending, Jack (Grealish) had his best game since football returned, Pepe's (Reina) experience also helped the lads in front of him.

"I said before I feel we're a fitter team now, the lockdown gave us that opportunity to get the lads into a better place. We felt these were the four games to target to get the wins we needed."

Trezeguet, who scored a brace in the win over Crystal Palace, settled the game when he fired in low after Conor Hourihane's 27th-minute corner whistled through the box.

Keinan Davis missed a fine late chance and John McGinn's drive was saved by Emi Martinez.

Arsenal failed to fire or find the inspiration which helped them beat Liverpool and Manchester City in their two previous outings.

Eddie Nketiah's header hit the post but the Gunners will need to win the FA Cup against Chelsea next month to return to Europe next season.

A plane flew a banner across Villa Park reading 'Back Mikel Kroenke Out' as fans showed their opposition to owner Stan Kroenke and Arsenal will finish outside the top six for the first time since 1995.

Boss Mikel Arteta: "The Kroenkes and the board and the sporting director, I have their full backing. I have that 100 per cent - the fans have to believe what I'm saying.

"We are putting a strong plan together to do as much as we can in a short period and the league table doesn't lie. When you have the margin of points with the top teams it's for a reason.

"We need to improve in many areas, the team and individually. The top teams in certain areas are better than us.

"It has to hurt and we have to suffer, it's not good enough for this club. We know the challenge, it's really big and we're excited for what we have ahead of us.

"There are going to be some ups and downs but sometimes it's good to see the reality and move on and improve."

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Takreem Awards winners 2021

Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)

Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)

Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)

Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)

Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)

Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)

Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)

Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)

Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)

Young Entrepreneur: Omar Itani (Lebanon)

Lifetime Achievement: Suad Al Amiry (Palestine)

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Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus 

Wicked: For Good

Director: Jon M Chu

Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater

Rating: 4/5

How the bonus system works

The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.

The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.

There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).

All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.

Cinco in numbers

Dh3.7 million

The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown

46

The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.

1,000

The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]

50

How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday

3,000

The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

1.1 million

The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.

BULKWHIZ PROFILE

Date started: February 2017

Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: E-commerce 

Size: 50 employees

Funding: approximately $6m

Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait

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Tamkeen's offering
  • Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
  • Option 2: 50% across three years
  • Option 3: 30% across five years 
UAE jiu-jitsu squad

Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)

Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)

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• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”

• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems

• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.

• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%

• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade

• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels

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1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers