It was the standout performance of the Premier League season so far and the best Chelsea have mustered since a 6-0 thrashing of Arsenal in March 2014.
Everton were barely even second best during their chastening trip to Stamford Bridge before the recent international break, with Antonio Conte’s men in imperious form as they ran out 5-0 winners in front of their own supporters.
Eden Hazard, 25, was the Chelsea forward who attracted the majority of the plaudits after another magnificent performance against Ronald Koeman’s charges.
The freedom afforded to the Belgium international in Conte’s 3-4-2-1 formation – Hazard starts on the left flank but has the licence to drift all over the final third – has brought out the best in a player who has often struggled to fulfil his defensive duties in the past, with a return of six goals in his last six outings evidence of his productivity at present.
Hazard is not the only Chelsea attacker who has demonstrated a vast improvement following a below-par 2015/16, however.
Numerous Manchester United supporters were left disappointed when their side failed to secure the signature of Pedro last summer, when the Spanish winger opted to join Chelsea from Barcelona instead.
By the end of the season, though, those same fans could be forgiven for expressing relief that the five-time Primera Liga champion had ended up elsewhere, particularly as United would probably not have acquired Anthony Martial had Louis van Gaal landed his first-choice target.
Pedro’s debut season in English football was, all in all, rather underwhelming. Joining a Chelsea outfit on the verge of an astonishing implosion patently did not help matters, but it was not unreasonable to have expected a little more from a player who cost the club £19 million (Dh86.6m).
The Barcelona academy product actually got his Chelsea career off to a brilliant start, starring in a 3-2 defeat of West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns – his first appearance for his second senior side.
Such positive early form could not be sustained, though, and Pedro contributed just four Premier League goals and two assists between August and April.
Pedro, 29, did make a bigger impact in the final few weeks of the season and had already shown signs of improvement from around February onwards, but it was not at all surprising that he began the current campaign as backup to Hazard and Willian.
After starting on the substitutes’ bench in six of Chelsea’s first seven league encounters, he made the most of the opportunity he was afforded when the Brazilian was granted compassionate leave following the death of his mother in October.
A fine display in the 3-0 victory over Leicester City was followed by an even better one in the 4-0 destruction of Manchester United.
His superb showing against Everton was the high point, not only of this term but of Pedro’s time at Chelsea as a whole. He was a constant threat on the right-hand side of a front three which cut the visitors to Stamford Bridge to shreds with their incisive interplay.
Willian, the club’s player of the year in 2015/16, cannot get back into the team as a result.
“The new formation is very good for the team, it’s a great system for us,” Pedro said after the game.
“The manager has been important, he’s very good, a strong guy with character and good ideas. He’s very good for the team.”
After a disappointing debut year, the same can now be said about Pedro.
Our Premier League weekend coverage:
Podcast: Arsene Wenger can end Jose Mourinho hoodoo
Predictions: Arsenal punish United, clean sheet win for Chelsea
Defoe continues to be crucial to Sunderland hopes
It did not take long for Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard to be linked with returns to the Premier League after both players confirmed they were leaving MLS this week.
It remains unlikely that either midfielder will be handed another playing contract in England, with Lampard and Gerrard’s moves to the United States in 2015 widely seen as the end of their careers in top-level European football.
The same presumption was made when another former England international, Jermain Defoe, 34, swapped Tottenham Hotspur for Toronto two years ago.
The striker, then 31, may have been significantly younger than both Lampard (37) and Gerrard (35) when he made his debut on the other side of the Atlantic, but it was still logical to conclude that Defoe’s time in the Premier League was over in February 2014.
The former West Ham United and Portsmouth marksman was back in the division just 10 months later, however, as Sunderland handed him a three-and-a-half-year deal worth £70,000 a week.
Offering such terms to an ageing player who had started only three Premier League matches in the previous 20 months was a major risk and a move which seemed to sum up the perennial strugglers’ short-term thinking and haphazard approach to transfer dealings, but Defoe has proved the doubters wrong since arriving at the Stadium of Light.
While his first 17 appearances in the second half of 2014/15 yielded only four goals, Defoe played a valuable role on the right flank as Dick Advocaat led Sunderland to safety.
Being deployed through the middle by Sam Allardyce the following campaign brought 15 strikes in 33 games and a similar dramatic escape from the drop zone.
Another battle against relegation is looming large this term, with David Moyes’ charges currently second-bottom in the standings.
Only Diego Costa, Sergio Aguero, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku have found the back of the net more often than Defoe, though, with the forward as important to Sunderland as ever.
From Richard Jolly:
Guardiola fears City may not be able to stop Benteke
Swansea ready for Ashley Williams reminder
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NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The Details
Article 15
Produced by: Carnival Cinemas, Zee Studios
Directed by: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Zeeshan Ayyub
Our rating: 4/5
Syria squad
Goalkeepers: Ibrahim Alma, Mahmoud Al Youssef, Ahmad Madania.
Defenders: Ahmad Al Salih, Moayad Ajan, Jehad Al Baour, Omar Midani, Amro Jenyat, Hussein Jwayed, Nadim Sabagh, Abdul Malek Anezan.
Midfielders: Mahmoud Al Mawas, Mohammed Osman, Osama Omari, Tamer Haj Mohamad, Ahmad Ashkar, Youssef Kalfa, Zaher Midani, Khaled Al Mobayed, Fahd Youssef.
Forwards: Omar Khribin, Omar Al Somah, Mardik Mardikian.
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The biog
Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives.
The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast.
As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau
He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker.
If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)
Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
Brighton 1
Gross (50' pen)
Tottenham 1
Kane (48)
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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
10 tips for entry-level job seekers
- Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
- Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
- Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
- For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
- Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
- Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
- Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
- Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
- Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
- Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.
Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz
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
Scoreline
Syria 1-1 Australia
Syria Al Somah 85'
Australia Kruse 40'
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Seattle from Dh5,555 return, including taxes. Portland is a 260 km drive from Seattle and Emirates offers codeshare flights to Portland with its partner Alaska Airlines.
The car
Hertz (www.hertz.ae) offers compact car rental from about $300 per week, including taxes. Emirates Skywards members can earn points on their car hire through Hertz.
Parks and accommodation
For information on Crater Lake National Park, visit www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm . Because of the altitude, large parts of the park are closed in winter due to snow. While the park’s summer season is May 22-October 31, typically, the full loop of the Rim Drive is only possible from late July until the end of October. Entry costs $25 per car for a day. For accommodation, see www.travelcraterlake.com. For information on Umpqua Hot Springs, see www.fs.usda.gov and https://soakoregon.com/umpqua-hot-springs/. For Bend, see https://www.visitbend.com/.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
