Mathieu Flamini hopes his memorable contribution to Arsenal's triumph at Tottenham Hotspur will spark an individual and collective revival from the club as they head to Leicester City on Saturday.
Arsene Wenger's side slipped to fifth place in the Premier League following their controversial 2-0 defeat against champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last weekend.
That disappointment came on the back of a surprise Champions League loss against Dinamo Zagreb, but Arsenal responded well to those setbacks by beating Tottenham 2-1 in the League Cup third round at White Hart Lane on Wednesday.
Read more: Will Leicester trouble Arsenal? Thomas Woods has his say in the week's Premier League predictions
The win against their fierce local rivals will undoubtedly strengthen belief ahead of the trip to face Claudio Ranieri’s side, who unexpectedly find themselves in fourth spot with the last unbeaten record in the top tier.
Crucially for Arsenal, the performance of French midfielder Flamini on his first start of the season provided a major bonus in the absence of Francis Coquelin.
Coquelin picked up a knee injury against Chelsea and while Wenger has not given up hope of the 24-year-old making the trip to the King Power Stadium, he was relieved to see Flamini step in so convincingly with his first goals since March.
If Flamini does feature against Leicester, it will be the 31-year-old’s first Premier League start since the turn of the year.
“I have heard many people have been talking about me, but what is important is on the field,” Flamini said.
“I proved everyone wrong, I am still here, I’ve been working hard and I was ready for this game.
“I hadn’t played for a while. But you could see here I’m working hard. And today it was my game. But my teammates did a great job.”
Flamini had been sidelined since Wenger cut short Coquelin’s loan spell at Charlton Athletic last December and installed the player in the holding midfield role.
Wenger’s failure to bring in back-up for Coquelin during the last transfer window was widely criticised, but Flamini is now hoping for the chance to prove the role can be filled from within the ranks.
“When you get the opportunity to come back in you’ve got to prove yourself and give a good performance to show why you’re in the starting line-up,” Flamini said
“That’s what I try to do every time that I get an opportunity.”
Gabriel Paulista’s red card against Chelsea was this week rescinded, but the centre back now faces a wait to see if he will be punished after being charged with improper conduct because of the way he protested his sending off at Stamford Bridge.
Wenger will lock horns with Leicester coach Ranieri for the first time since 2004, when Arsenal’s unbeaten “Invincibles” claimed the Premier League title, but were dumped out of the Champions League by a Chelsea team managed by Ranieri.
Ranieri is unbeaten himself in eight league and cup games since returning to England with Leicester.
However, he admits Arsenal are the only serious title contenders on show in Saturday’s clash.
“Now they are ready,” said Ranieri. “But of course, to win a title you also need to be a little lucky.
“For us it is important to try to stay there and maintain the start – not to think about what we can do.
“Our fans can dream but we have to stay very calm and work very hard because a defeat is around the corner.”
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Company%20Profile
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
Company%20Profile
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It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
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Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
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
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
Confirmed%20bouts%20(more%20to%20be%20added)
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Company%20Profile
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
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Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
MO
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