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.
Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance: the specs
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 plus rear-mounted electric motor
Power: 843hp at N/A rpm
Torque: 1470Nm N/A rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.6L/100km
On sale: October to December
Price: From Dh875,000 (estimate)
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THE BIO
Ms Al Ameri likes the variety of her job, and the daily environmental challenges she is presented with.
Regular contact with wildlife is the most appealing part of her role at the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi.
She loves to explore new destinations and lives by her motto of being a voice in the world, and not an echo.
She is the youngest of three children, and has a brother and sister.
Her favourite book, Moby Dick by Herman Melville helped inspire her towards a career exploring the natural world.
In 2018, the ICRC received 27,756 trace requests in the Middle East alone. The global total was 45,507.
There are 139,018 global trace requests that have not been resolved yet, 55,672 of these are in the Middle East region.
More than 540,000 individuals approached the ICRC in the Middle East asking to be reunited with missing loved ones in 2018.
The total figure for the entire world was 654,000 in 2018.
How to get exposure to gold
Although you can buy gold easily on the Dubai markets, the problem with buying physical bars, coins or jewellery is that you then have storage, security and insurance issues.
A far easier option is to invest in a low-cost exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in the precious metal instead, for example, ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) both track physical gold. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF invests directly in mining companies.
Alternatively, BlackRock Gold & General seeks to achieve long-term capital growth primarily through an actively managed portfolio of gold mining, commodity and precious-metal related shares. Its largest portfolio holdings include gold miners Newcrest Mining, Barrick Gold Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and the NewMont Goldcorp.
Brave investors could take on the added risk of buying individual gold mining stocks, many of which have performed wonderfully well lately.
London-listed Centamin is up more than 70 per cent in just three months, although in a sign of its volatility, it is down 5 per cent on two years ago. Trans-Siberian Gold, listed on London's alternative investment market (AIM) for small stocks, has seen its share price almost quadruple from 34p to 124p over the same period, but do not assume this kind of runaway growth can continue for long
However, buying individual equities like these is highly risky, as their share prices can crash just as quickly, which isn't what what you want from a supposedly safe haven.
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Results
1.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh50,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner Al Suhooj, Saif Al Balushi (jockey), Khalifa Al Neyadi (trainer)
2pm Handicap (TB) 68,000 (D) 1,950m
Winner Miracle Maker, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
2.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner Mazagran, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
3pm Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
3.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh76,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner Alla Mahlak, Adrie de Vries, Rashed Bouresly
4pm Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner Hurry Up, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
4.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m
