In some observers' minds, West Ham United were doomed before the season began - a terrible 2009/10 season, an unpopular manager with a poor reputation, a squad of misfits and overpaid, injury-prone big-name players and a huge debt.
Subsequent results backed up that opinion - two wins in 18 games, 31 goals conceded, leaving them three points from safety at the bottom of the table. Now there is statistical proof that the poor Hammers are as good as relegated. It is called "The Curse of Christmas".
That refers to a trend in the Premier League whereby the team that was bottom of the table at Christmas has been relegated.
There has been just one exception in 18 seasons - West Bromwich Albion's Great Escape in the 2004/05 season when they avoided the drop on the last day of the season.
That means that, based on history, West Ham have a 5.5 per cent chance of staying up this season. That is hardly a comforting statistic. Manager Avram Grant was supposedly told by owners David Gold and David Sullivan last week that he must win one of the club's next three games to save his job.
He started with a 1-1 draw at Blackburn. Now he has two more chances and Fulham (away) and Everton (home) await.
The Hammers have not won away from home since the first game of last season - at Wolverhampton Wanderers. That is 27 fruitless games on the road so the chances of a win at Fulham are relatively slim. Likewise, Everton, coming off a fine 2-1 victory away at Manchester City, are unlikely to be quaking in their boots at the prospect of a trip to Upton Park, where West Ham have scored only 11 times in nine games. If Grant's side do win, 1-0 is the most likely score.
Prospects are hardly bright for the two teams just above the Hammers, Wolves and Wigan Athletic.
Mick McCarthy's Wolves have lost more games (10) than any other team this season and are also yet to win away. Wigan, meanwhile, have the lowest scoring record with just 13 goals for in 17 games.
Any of these teams can still escape the drop with a run of good results - Newcastle in eighth place are just eight points above the relegation zone.
But West Ham shouldn't hold out much hope. History is against them.
Cahill has kept Everton’s head above water
Just as Everton’s season appears to be getting back on track, they are set to be shorn of their star performer.
Tim Cahill has delayed his departure to join up with the Australia squad for the Asian Cup in Qatar until the New Year, meaning he can take part in Everton’s busy Christmas programme.
But the midfielder will definitely miss two league games – including the Merseyside derby against Liverpool – and an FA Cup match. If Australia progress out of group play in Qatar, Cahill will be absent for a third league game, the January 22 home match against West Ham.
And if the Aussies advance all the way to the January 29 final he would miss two more Everton games, another FA Cup match and an away game at Arsenal on February 1.
Australia play a friendly against the UAE at Al Ain on February 5. Whether Cahill will have joined the national side by then is not clear. Australia’s first match in the Asian Cup is on January 10.
Everton were predicted to have an outside chance of breaking into the top four this season but that hope appears to have disappeared after a poor start to the season, which saw them languishing in the bottom three early on.
However, Monday’s impressive 2-1 victory at title-contenders Manchester City looked to have signalled a change in fortunes for Everton. It was only their fourth win of the season and underlined the importance of Cahill to the team. The midfielder opened the scoring for Everton with a header. It was his ninth league goal of the season – that is almost half of the club’s 19 goals in total.
To put his contribution into context, Everton’s forwards have netted only three goals between them.
Cahill has scored at City in four of his seven Premier League seasons and the last three in a row. He has netted more headed goals than any player in the league.
All of which shows how much of a hole he will leave when he travels to Qatar.
Premier League are top draw
Last Friday’s draw for the Champions League held mixed fortunes for the four Premier League teams. Manchester United and Chelsea will be pleased, Arsenal will be cursing their luck and Tottenham are just happy to be in the knockout stages for the first time. Some managers pay more attention to statistics than others. It is probably best that Arsene Wenger ignores them completely.
His team drew Barcelona, whom they have yet to beat in five meetings. Chelsea have played Copenhagen twice, winning one and drawing one. Marseille and Manchester United have faced off twice, with one win each. Spurs came out on top on a two-legged match with AC Milan in 1972. All of which points to a strong Premier League presence in the quarter-finals.
Champions league draw
Tie The stats say
Arsenal v Barca Barca win
Man Utd v Marseille Pen shootout
Chelsea v Copenhagen Chelsea win
Spurs v Milan Spurs win
Arsenal’s red mist
When the mistimed tackle by Stoke City’s Ryan Shawcross broke the leg of Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey last season, Arsene Wenger led the calls for dangerous tackles to be stamped out, laying the blame at the league’s supposedly more physical teams such as Stoke and Blackburn.
Yet that was the only card Stoke have picked up in their last four games against Arsenal. By contrast, the Gunners have four red cards this season and are third in the disciplinary table.
Perhaps it is Arsenal who need to start reining in their tackles.
twoods@thenational.ae
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
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Euro 2020
Group A: Italy, Switzerland, Wales, Turkey
Group B: Belgium, Russia, Denmark, Finland
Group C: Netherlands, Ukraine, Austria,
Georgia/Kosovo/Belarus/North Macedonia
Group D: England, Croatia, Czech Republic,
Scotland/Israel/Norway/Serbia
Group E: Spain, Poland, Sweden,
N.Ireland/Bosnia/Slovakia/Ireland
Group F: Germany, France, Portugal,
Iceland/Romania/Bulgaria/Hungary
Sunday's games
All times UAE:
Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace, 4pm
Manchester City v Arsenal, 6.15pm
Everton v Watford, 8.30pm
Chelsea v Manchester United, 8.30pm
MORE ON TURKEY'S SYRIA OFFENCE
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
TOP%2010%20MOST%20POLLUTED%20CITIES
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Brief scoreline:
Wolves 3
Neves 28', Doherty 37', Jota 45' 2
Arsenal 1
Papastathopoulos 80'
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
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
T20 SQUADS
Australia: Aaron Finch (c), Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shinwari, Hassan Ali, Imad Wasim, Waqas Maqsood, Faheem Ashraf.
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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
