Mark Hughes feared surrendering a two-goal lead in last season's home defeat to Chelsea had dealt a "mortal blow" to Southampton's hopes of Premier League survival.
Struggling Saints were cruising towards a valuable victory in April before a late capitulation saw them concede three times in the final 20 minutes.
The 3-2 loss left the south-coast club five points from safety with five games to play.
Chelsea return to St Mary's on Sunday and Southampton manager Hughes now believes the setback gave his players the necessary belief to avoid relegation.
"It was huge disappointment at the time, because it was a significant game at the time, we'd got ourselves in a winning position," he said.
"We were in a predicament at the bottom of the table and we needed every point that we could get.
"It was a feeling that it would maybe be a mortal blow but actually it galvanised us and from that point onwards we felt we've just gone up against a very good Chelsea team and should have beaten them.
"We weren't able to but the confidence that we took from performing as well as did against them helped us in the games we faced from then until the end of the season.
"There's no doubt whatsoever in my mind that, even though we might have won the game, we would have got the same kind of reaction from that game in terms of positivity because we needed to convince ourselves that we were a good team and I think we did on that day."
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Saints have a dreadful recent record in front of their own fans, winning just four of their last 27 league fixtures at St Mary's.
Hughes admits the home form must improve to avoid a repeat of the problems experienced during the last campaign.
However, the Welshman - who has won one of six home matches since replacing the sacked Mauricio Pellegrino in March - feels it is unfair to judge his personal record too harshly.
"I haven't been in charge of too many home games, if I'm honest. I've played 19 games I think since I got this job and only six of them have been at home," he said.
"After the weekend, two of them were against Chelsea and one of them was against Man City, so the opportunities to get actually maximum points haven't been too great, albeit in the other games we should have picked up more points than we did.
"The facts of it is we haven't won too many home games in my time, I think it needs to be mitigated a little bit because we forever seem to be on the road.
"We need to improve our home form because that's going to be a factor in determining what kind of season we have."
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Fixtures
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Biography
Favourite drink: Must have karak chai and Chinese tea every day
Favourite non-Chinese food: Arabic sweets and Indian puri, small round bread of wheat flour
Favourite Chinese dish: Spicy boiled fish or anything cooked by her mother because of its flavour
Best vacation: Returning home to China
Music interests: Enjoys playing the zheng, a string musical instrument
Enjoys reading: Chinese novels, romantic comedies, reading up on business trends, government policy changes
Favourite book: Chairman Mao Zedong’s poems
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Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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Political flags or banners
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Bikes, skateboards or scooters
New schools in Dubai
Specs
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Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
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