Played 17, won none, drawn three, lost 14. If the debate a couple of months ago was if relegation should be cancelled, now some might say there is a case for demoting all of the bottom four, given their combined haul of three points from a possible 51 in summer. Admittedly, Brighton and West Ham, who raised the most objections to Project Restart, have eased their own concerns in the right way by procuring seven and four points respectively.
David Moyes' team are not safe, but it looks like a case of three from four at the bottom. Two meet on Tuesday. Something has got to give as Norwich City visit Watford. Four defeats without scoring have all but finished Norwich off but each can see salvation in the other. "We've had five wins in 33 games and need five from the last five," said Norwich manager Daniel Farke. Oddly, he claimed: "We're still realistic." His target is not.
Watford’s first league win of the season, and their only one in Quique Sanchez Flores’ second spell in charge, came at Norwich’s expense. Four months after their demolition of Liverpool, they could do with ending another wait – albeit a different kind – with a similar result.
The surprise, perhaps, is that Watford find themselves in this position. Beating Liverpool took them to 18 points, including five wins, in 12 games under Nigel Pearson. Their first game of the resumption brought a deserved draw against Leicester and featured arguably the best performance any of the bottom four have mustered in June or July. Yet three straight defeats have followed and if Watford did not disgrace themselves against Chelsea on Saturday, they were mediocre at Burnley and wretched against Southampton.
They have one goal in five games and it is not exactly a failsafe formula to rely on a centre-back to score an overhead kick in injury time, as Craig Dawson did against Leicester. Captain Troy Deeney has only mustered two shots on target in five outings since bullying Liverpool. A forceful personality can be an infrequent scorer and, apart from penalties, Deeney only has four goals this season. But one alternative, Andre Gray, has not featured since his lockdown-breaking birthday party. Another, Danny Welbeck, has not scored a league goal in his injury-hit Watford career, though he offered encouragement in his cameo at Stamford Bridge. “Danny has had a frustrating year in terms of opportunity and being available without injuries,” said Pearson. “It has been hard for him.”
Welbeck could be a compelling option for an impotent team who are missing the incision the mercurial Gerard Deulofeu could offer before he suffered a season-ending cruciate injury. The search for someone to play on the left has encompassed Roberto Pereyra, Tom Cleverley and Will Hughes without Pearson finding an ideal candidate. “Players bring different things to the team but more importantly the team comes first and that has to be our philosophy and the baseline for us,” Pearson reflected.
The manager is a cricket fan and described his side on Saturday as being “out of nick.” He likened them to a batsman who needs to play his way back into form, showing grit to survive until fluency returns. Fixtures against Norwich, Newcastle and West Ham seem to offer the chance before a potentially tougher ending versus Manchester City and then Arsenal.
“A big week in terms of opportunity,” said Pearson. It is for him, with his contract only running until the end of the season, and for a club whose revolving-door policies were predicated on a need to retain their top-flight status. Because Watford risk going from beating Liverpool this season to losing to Rotherham next year.
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
THE NEW BATCH'S FOCUS SECTORS
AiFlux – renewables, oil and gas
DevisionX – manufacturing
Event Gates – security and manufacturing
Farmdar – agriculture
Farmin – smart cities
Greener Crop – agriculture
Ipera.ai – space digitisation
Lune Technologies – fibre-optics
Monak – delivery
NutzenTech – environment
Nybl – machine learning
Occicor – shelf management
Olymon Solutions – smart automation
Pivony – user-generated data
PowerDev – energy big data
Sav – finance
Searover – renewables
Swftbox – delivery
Trade Capital Partners – FinTech
Valorafutbol – sports and entertainment
Workfam – employee engagement
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
BELGIUM%20SQUAD
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RACECARD
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How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
2252 - Dh50
6025 - Dh20
6027 - Dh100
6026 - Dh200
TO ALL THE BOYS: ALWAYS AND FOREVER
Directed by: Michael Fimognari
Starring: Lana Condor and Noah Centineo
Two stars
Polarised public
31% in UK say BBC is biased to left-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is biased to right-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is not biased at all
Source: YouGov
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Getting there
The flights
Flydubai operates up to seven flights a week to Helsinki. Return fares to Helsinki from Dubai start from Dh1,545 in Economy and Dh7,560 in Business Class.
The stay
Golden Crown Igloos in Levi offer stays from Dh1,215 per person per night for a superior igloo; www.leviniglut.net
Panorama Hotel in Levi is conveniently located at the top of Levi fell, a short walk from the gondola. Stays start from Dh292 per night based on two people sharing; www. golevi.fi/en/accommodation/hotel-levi-panorama
Arctic Treehouse Hotel in Rovaniemi offers stays from Dh1,379 per night based on two people sharing; www.arctictreehousehotel.com
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
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Straightforward ways to reduce sugar in your family's diet
- Ban fruit juice and sodas
- Eat a hearty breakfast that contains fats and wholegrains, such as peanut butter on multigrain toast or full-fat plain yoghurt with whole fruit and nuts, to avoid the need for a 10am snack
- Give young children plain yoghurt with whole fruits mashed into it
- Reduce the number of cakes, biscuits and sweets. Reserve them for a treat
- Don’t eat dessert every day
- Make your own smoothies. Always use the whole fruit to maintain the benefit of its fibre content and don’t add any sweeteners
- Always go for natural whole foods over processed, packaged foods. Ask yourself would your grandmother have eaten it?
- Read food labels if you really do feel the need to buy processed food
- Eat everything in moderation
Oppenheimer
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The%20Crown%20season%205
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Company%20Profile
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SPECS
Mini John Cooper Works Clubman and Mini John Cooper Works Countryman
Engine: two-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 306hp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: JCW Clubman, Dh220,500; JCW Countryman, Dh225,500
Profile box
Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
Red Joan
Director: Trevor Nunn
Starring: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Tereza Srbova
Rating: 3/5 stars
The Kites
Romain Gary
Penguin Modern Classics
The%20specs%20
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