DUBAI // Sam Allardyce hopes his West Ham United side can return from a few days of warm-weather training in booming Dubai refreshed and ready to make their own progressive move.
Allardyce oversaw West Ham’s best start to a top-flight campaign in almost 30 years when they beat Leicester City 2-0 to sit fourth on Christmas Day.
Since then results have not matched performances.
Draws at Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur and a 1-0 defeat last week to Chelsea have played their part in West Ham collecting just one league win in 11 to slip to 10th.
West Ham, taking advantage of a rare free weekend courtesy of their fourth-round exit from the FA Cup, have been this week training at Dubai Sports City.
Allardyce is confident his squad will be rejuvenated when domestic action resumes on Saturday with a trip to the Emirates Stadium to face an Arsenal side that have seven league wins from a possible nine this year.
After that they host Sunderland and travel to Leicester City.
“If we play to our best, as we did against Chelsea and Tottenham, the next three games are all winnable,” Allardyce said.
“Unfortunately, against Chelsea we didn’t get what we wanted because we didn’t finish our chances and they scored an offside goal. But against Tottenham, we were only five seconds away from three points.
“So we can win and winning is the most important thing for us now. Performances have not been the problem, but you have to turn performances into victories.”
Allardyce has long been the subject of criticism from West Ham supporters, a fact the 60-year-old manager puts down to overachievement in his first year at the club when they finished 10th.
The London club at present is three points off eighth on 39 points with 10 games to play.
“We overachieved by four or five places [in our first year],” he said. “But when you overachieve you try to take advantage again and that equates to too much expectations, especially coming from your own fans.
"If we finish sixth in the league, that is like winning the Premier League. There is no doubt about that. To finish in sixth spot compared to the spending power of the rest of the teams in and around that area, that would be beyond a major achievement."
Allardyce, whose contract expires in the summer, has seen his future at Upton Park brought into question in recent days, with a switch to Sunderland mooted yesterday.
He is thinking, though, only about finishing strongly with West Ham.
“Eighth for us is achievable; we should already be there,” he said. “We should have already secured a lot more points, but we haven’t and that shows you the frailties of the squad.
“Even though our performances have been excellent, our victories have turned into draws and because of that we have slipped down the league a little bit.
“So I know the frailties, I’ve seen them and know what we need to do so those frailties don’t appear next season.
“For now though it’s about these last 10 games, securing as many points as possible and trying to hit the target of eighth in the league.”
gmeenAghan@thenational.ae
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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Places to go for free coffee
- Cherish Cafe Dubai, Dubai Investment Park, are giving away free coffees all day.
- La Terrace, Four Points by Sheraton Bur Dubai, are serving their first 50 guests one coffee and four bite-sized cakes
- Wild & The Moon will be giving away a free espresso with every purchase on International Coffee Day
- Orange Wheels welcome parents are to sit, relax and enjoy goodies at ‘Café O’ along with a free coffee
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Messi at the Copa America
2007 – lost 3-0 to Brazil in the final
2011 – lost to Uruguay on penalties in the quarter-finals
2015 – lost to Chile on penalties in the final
2016 – lost to Chile on penalties in the final
If you go...
Fly from Dubai or Abu Dhabi to Chiang Mai in Thailand, via Bangkok, before taking a five-hour bus ride across the Laos border to Huay Xai. The land border crossing at Huay Xai is a well-trodden route, meaning entry is swift, though travellers should be aware of visa requirements for both countries.
Flights from Dubai start at Dh4,000 return with Emirates, while Etihad flights from Abu Dhabi start at Dh2,000. Local buses can be booked in Chiang Mai from around Dh50
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
UAE SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Adel Al Hosani
Defenders: Bandar Al Ahbabi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Mohammed Barghash, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Hassan Al Mahrami, Yousef Jaber, Salem Rashid, Mohammed Al Attas, Alhassan Saleh
Midfielders: Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Majed Hassan, Yahya Nader, Ahmed Barman, Abdullah Hamad, Khalfan Mubarak, Khalil Al Hammadi, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Harib Abdallah, Mohammed Jumah, Yahya Al Ghassani
Forwards: Fabio De Lima, Caio Canedo, Ali Saleh, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri
