Less than four months ago, for the second time in August, Arsenal were celebrating winning a trophy in the Wembley sunshine. On Tuesday, Mikel Arteta was fielding questions if they are in a relegation battle. "A blip," he countered.
It is quite a blip, though. Arsenal now find themselves on their worst start to a season since 1974/75, having lost four consecutive home league games for the first time since 1959. They have suffered historic reverses, with Leicester, Wolves and Burnley claiming maiden away wins at Arsenal since 1973, 1979 and 1974. On Wednesday, they host Southampton, who last took three points at Arsenal in 1987.
Arsenal may even go into it as underdogs. They have two league goals in eight games: one a penalty, the other a header from a centre-back. The supposed coup of getting Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to commit to a new contract has been followed by a three-month spell when his only league goal in open play came for Burnley.
Indiscipline abounds. Nicolas Pepe and Granit Xhaka have got the most needless of red cards for violent conduct and Mohamed Elneny was lucky not to reduce them to nine men on Sunday.
As it is, Hector Bellerin, who has as many foul throws as bookings this season, joins Xhaka among the suspended. The situation with the Swiss midfielder, Arteta said, had been resolved internally.
The Spaniard, whose precocity suggested that he was a youthful candidate to join the ranks of the great managers, has instead looked part of the problem, haunted by a harrowing run of results.
He received a vote of confidence from technical director Edu, but admitted: “When you're not getting results at the end of the day it's the manager who has the maximum responsibility to get them. This football club is too big to accept this many losses in the past few weeks.”
Arteta retains the board’s support and was adamant he believes he can turn Arsenal’s fortunes around but he was more equivocal as to whether he still has the players’ backing.
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Arsenal v Burnley ratings
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“My feeling is yes but this is a question for them obviously,” he said. “It's impossible to have 31 happy players in the camp. I don't know any club in the world who has that.”
And Arsenal certainly don’t. Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Mesut Ozil have been omitted from the Premier League squad; the best-paid player in Arsenal’s history chirps away unhelpfully on social media. William Saliba is not in their Europa League squad; the £25 million ($33m) Frenchman, supposedly the future of their defence, still has not played a senior game.
Arsenal have denied there is a rift between Arteta and the omitted David Luiz, but Shkodran Mustafi, a stalwart in summer, has been marginalised. Ainsley Maitland-Niles, a revelation at wing-back, now finds himself near the back of the queue for midfield places. Joe Willock and Eddie Nketiah’s Europa League excellence rarely earns them Premier League starts, while some senior players appear undroppable,
At least Xhaka’s ban means Arteta cannot pick him on Wednesday. Willian, who has been utterly ineffectual, may keep his place. He has become symbolic of Arsenal’s short-termism, spending in a bid to return to the Champions League but getting worse. Arteta’s misguided switch to 4-3-3 feels another poor judgment call
If he fails, though, it will not be for a lack of effort. “We have to face it being brave, fighting and no-one giving up or anything because it is no time to hide,” he said. “It’s time to put your face and your body on the line and at the moment, I’m sorry, but we have to take the bullets. You have to put your chest forward. My chest is here and hit me, guys.”
Wydad 2 Urawa 3
Wydad Nahiri 21’, Hajhouj 90'
Urawa Antonio 18’, 60’, Kashiwagi 26’
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S
Price, base / as tested: Dh74,900 / Dh85,900
Engine: 937cc
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox
Power: 110hp @ 9,000rpm
Torque: 93Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.9L / 100km
More coverage from the Future Forum
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
FA CUP FINAL
Chelsea 1
Hazard (22' pen)
Manchester United 0
Man of the match: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Managing the separation process
- Choose your nursery carefully in the first place
- Relax – and hopefully your child will follow suit
- Inform the staff in advance of your child’s likes and dislikes.
- If you need some extra time to talk to the teachers, make an appointment a few days in advance, rather than attempting to chat on your child’s first day
- The longer you stay, the more upset your child will become. As difficult as it is, walk away. Say a proper goodbye and reassure your child that you will be back
- Be patient. Your child might love it one day and hate it the next
- Stick at it. Don’t give up after the first day or week. It takes time for children to settle into a new routine.And, finally, don’t feel guilty.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
How to join and use Abu Dhabi’s public libraries
• There are six libraries in Abu Dhabi emirate run by the Department of Culture and Tourism, including one in Al Ain and Al Dhafra.
• Libraries are free to visit and visitors can consult books, use online resources and study there. Most are open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays, closed on Fridays and have variable hours on Saturdays, except for Qasr Al Watan which is open from 10am to 8pm every day.
• In order to borrow books, visitors must join the service by providing a passport photograph, Emirates ID and a refundable deposit of Dh400. Members can borrow five books for three weeks, all of which are renewable up to two times online.
• If users do not wish to pay the fee, they can still use the library’s electronic resources for free by simply registering on the website. Once registered, a username and password is provided, allowing remote access.
• For more information visit the library network's website.
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
The bio
Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district
Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school
Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family
His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people
Has seven diaries in which he has jotted down notes about his work and money he earned
Keeps the diaries in his car to remember his journey in the Emirates
info-box
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Happy Tenant
Started: January 2019
Co-founders: Joe Moufarrej and Umar Rana
Based: Dubai
Sector: Technology, real-estate
Initial investment: Dh2.5 million
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 4,000
RESULT
Argentina 0 Croatia 3
Croatia: Rebic (53'), Modric (80'), Rakitic (90' 1)
