It is increasingly hard to call it a Champions League charge. Leicester City remain on course for a top-four finish but they are stumbling towards their objective. They now have a solitary win and a mere seven points from their last seven league games after being held by Brighton & Hove Albion’s draw specialists and, for the second time in four days, did not deserve to beat a team embroiled in the battle at the bottom.
It ranked as a better point for Brighton, even though they missed the outstanding chance. Neal Maupay was the late hero against Arsenal and the early culprit versus Leicester, with his penalty being saved by Kasper Schmeichel. But a share of the spoils nonetheless took Albion's June haul to four points from two games. Another four might be enough to keep them up.
Brighton are in the minority to have excelled after emerging from lockdown, Leicester among the majority who are yet to recapture their best form so it made for an even affair. Leicester suffered from second-game syndrome in football’s restart, whereby changes are necessitated, but the team is weakened as a result.
Brendan Rodgers sprang a surprise by recalling Nampalys Mendy, affording the midfielder a present on his 28th birthday. The move backfired, however: Leicester missed the benched Youri Tielemans while James Maddison, shifted into a wider role, had a lesser impact as a 4-4-2 system scarcely worked.
Rodgers rarely plays with two strikers but selected Kelechi Iheanacho to partner Jamie Vardy. However, the top scorer was so marginalised he had a solitary touch in the first half-hour and he has still only scored in one game in 2020. Arguably Rodgers waited too late to bring on Tielemans and Harvey Barnes during the second-half drinks break. Predictably, Mendy and Iheanacho made way, allowing Maddison to play as a No 10, and Leicester finished with a stronger 11 than they started.
Brighton’s initial changes felt more progressive. Graham Potter’s willingness to experiment and trust in the new have been themes of Albion’s season and he named their youngest ever Premier League side. He gave full debuts to Tariq Lamptey and Alexis Mac Allister, another of Saturday’s influential substitutes. The right-back showed his pace and the Argentine midfielder some neat touches.
The choice of Aaron Connolly, who set up Maupay’s decider against Arsenal as a replacement, was soon justified. The Irishman showed his pace to chase Aaron Mooy’s ball over the top. James Justin tugged him back – it was a moment Leicester missed the excellent but injured right-back Ricardo Pereira – and Lee Mason pointed to the spot. But Schmeichel denied Maupay, guessing right, diving decisively but also benefitting from a shot that was not precise enough. Perhaps Matteo Guendouzi, Maupay’s nemesis on Saturday, enjoyed it. Certainly Schmeichel did: this was his second successive penalty save after denying Sergio Aguero in February.
But Connolly was a livewire. Caglar Soyuncu did well to deflect a shot over after another swift burst. The sense with some of Brighton’s emerging players has been that their future will be brighter, providing they can survive this season and the January arrival Mac Allister was another to offer encouragement. An older signing, Mooy, dragged a shot just wide.
Potter had to revise his plans again when Adam Webster limped off in the first half, meaning the old firm of Shane Duffy and Lewis Dunk were reunited at the back but the change hardly afforded Leicester an opening. They did not threaten for 45 minutes until, after a bout of penalty-box pinball, Soyuncu headed wide.
As Brighton faded as an attacking force, Leicester improved after the break and Maddison fizzed an effort wide but Potter, who has forged a reputation as a fine deployer of substitutes, shored Albion up with a triple change. Leicester nevertheless began to dominate possession and Maddison started to look more menacing, finding space between the lines and attempting a couple of shots.
But Mat Ryan has had far busier afternoons in the Albion goal and the Australian did not need to make a memorable save. A draw was secured by the endeavours of his teammates but, from a Leicester perspective, the game was summed up when Pereira, watching on from an executive box, yawned.
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands
50-man Royal Rumble
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Casket match The Undertaker v Chris Jericho
John Cena v Triple H
Matches to be announced
WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Raw Tag Team Championship, United States Championship and the Cruiserweight Championship are all due to be defended
SPECS
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
PROFILE OF STARZPLAY
Date started: 2014
Founders: Maaz Sheikh, Danny Bates
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment/Streaming Video On Demand
Number of employees: 125
Investors/Investment amount: $125 million. Major investors include Starz/Lionsgate, State Street, SEQ and Delta Partners
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
A Long Way Home by Peter Carey
Faber & Faber
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Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
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'Manmarziyaan' (Colour Yellow Productions, Phantom Films)
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal
Rating: 3.5/5
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Match info
Uefa Nations League Group B:
England v Spain, Saturday, 11.45pm (UAE)
Company profile
Name: GiftBag.ae
Based: Dubai
Founded: 2011
Number of employees: 4
Sector: E-commerce
Funding: Self-funded to date
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950