Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was relaxed about the possibility of losing star forward Sergio Aguero to suspension after television footage appeared to show him elbowing West Ham United’s Winston Reid on Sunday.
Aguero could face retrospective action by the Football Association, and suspension, if the incident in City’s 3-1 Premier League win is judged to have been deliberate.
That would rule him out of City’s next game, the eagerly-awaited derby away to Manchester United at Old Trafford on September 10.
“I didn’t see it,” said Guardiola of the incident at Eastlands following a win that left City top of the table on goal difference.
“I am new here so I don’t know how it works,” the Spaniard added. “I didn’t see so I cannot comment. Hopefully nothing happens. If it happens, we accept and adapt. If we lose him, we lose him. We are going to play with 11.”
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Two goals from Raheem Sterling and one from Fernandinho clinched a fifth win in as many league and cup games under Guardiola’s management, although a header from Michail Antonio – called up into the England squad for the first time later Sunday – brought West Ham back to 2-1 and provided City with some anxious moments.
However, for all the changes former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss Guardiola has made at his new club in fewer than two months, the form of Sterling has been most startling after a difficult debut season with the club and a terrible European Championship campaign with England in France.
“What have I done to him? Nothing,” insisted Guardiola. “I have tried to do the best for all the players.
“Raz (Sterling) has scored two goals, was good but the games before was more brilliant than today (Sunday).
“Today in the first half he scored a goal but didn’t win too many defensive duels. Second half he was better, but of course we are so pleased.
“He can play right, left centre. He is so dynamic. I am so happy he is playing good.
“Raz is quality. We try to help him to say, ‘if you stay in that position, you receive the ball quicker’.
“After when he receives the ball, it is completely his talent. Manchester City bought this player because they believe.”
The game also offered a rare chance for Samir Nasri, who appeared to be surplus to requirements under City’s new management, to come on as a substitute and make an impact against West Ham.
“Yeah, it depends on the player but he can play,” said Guardiola when asked if the Frenchman still had a future at the club.
“Samir arrived overweight but after one week, 10 days, it was fantastic how he trained, how he competed. His quality is on another level but it depends on him. If you want to help us, want to stay, want to be part of something, it depends on him, not me.”
Should City be without Aguero for the derby game, there is considerable consolation in the fact that they will have three big pre-season signings – Leroy Sane, Ilkay Gundogan and goalkeeper Claudio Bravo – available for selection in their first meeting of the season with Jose Mourinho’s club.
“Of course we can do better,” said Guardiola. “No doubt about that. But we are just one and a half, two months here.
“We created many chances so we deserved to win clearly with more goals. The performance is good. We need Ilkay and Sane and all the guys because the guys who play today cannot play every three days.”
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic had no complaints about Aguero’s alleged elbow on Reid, saying he did not see the incident, and with so many injured players unavailable at Eastlands, took some consolation from the performance.
“With so many players we are missing, you have to praise the team,” he said.
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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
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Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Cofe
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 80-100
Amount raised: $13m
Investors: KISP ventures, Cedar Mundi, Towell Holding International, Takamul Capital, Dividend Gate Capital, Nizar AlNusif Sons Holding, Arab Investment Company and Al Imtiaz Investment Group
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Museum of the Future in numbers
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Country United Kingdom
Grands Prix entered 198
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Podiums 110
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