Premier League 2016/17 preview: Hull City – Talk task to keep up the mood, and the club

With the start of the 2016/17 Premier League season less than two weeks away, Premier League correspondent Richard Jolly provides his previews for each club. Here he looks at Hull City.

• More: See all of Richard's previews

Instead of a summer of celebration, one of increasing uncertainty. Hull City booked an immediate return to the Premier League, courtesy of Mohamed Diame’s spectacular play-off winner against Sheffield Wednesday, but the subsequent two months have amounted to an ever more frustrating time that culminated in Steve Bruce’s decision to resign, weeks before the start of the campaign, with no senior signings and only 13 fit players.

Takeover talks, which contributed to the problems, have been put on hold until September and Bruce’s successor Mike Phelan faces a tough task.

Goalkeeper Allan McGregor will miss the start of the season and Michael Dawson is out for three months as injuries have hit hard. The only good news, perhaps, is that having retained much of their squad after relegation, they still have the spine of a Premier League side when all are fit.

A spine of McGregor, Dawson, Curtis Davies, Tom Huddlestone, Jake Livermore, Diame and Abel Hernandez offers reassurance. Yet a lack of goals proved their undoing two seasons ago and they have fewer forwards now than then and without reinforcements, it would be a great achievement for Phelan to walk into the KC Stadium, change the mood at the club and keep Hull up.

• The National's Premier League section: All the latest from the Premier League, including news, interviews, features, and much more

Key Man: Abel Hernandez

The Uruguayan scored 20 goals in the Championship last season, but only four in the Premier League in the previous campaign. He has the ability to excel in the top flight; now Hull require proof of his quality.

Pivotal Signing: Jonathan Edwards

In the absence of anyone more prominent, the 19-year-old forward from Peterborough, who joined after a successful trial, is Hull’s biggest buy. He has promise, but that says something.

Point to Prove: Robert Snodgrass

The luckless Scotland winger seemed an ambitious buy by Hull two years ago. A knee injury limited him to a solitary Premier League appearance as they went down. Now, belatedly, he can show what he can do.

Crucial Factor: The next manager

Whoever he may be. He needs to make his mark quickly, both in terms of recruiting players and galvanising those Bruce signed. Get this appointment wrong and it is hard to see Hull surviving.

Predicted finish: 20th

Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE

Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport

World Mental Health Day

Troubled adolescents and cancer patients in sharp focus

Social media cause of unbearable pressure among young people, says parent

The hidden struggle of cancer patients

UAE residents find insurance patchy when it comes to treatment

How will Gen Alpha invest?

Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.

“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.

Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.

He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.

Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”

Jigra

Director: Vasan Bala

Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh

Rated: 3.5/5

MORE FROM ED HUSAIN: The UAE-Israel accord is a win for every Muslim

While you're here

Layla Mashkoor: How policing has changed since the US protests began

Gavin Esler: The uniquely threads that tie Rodney King to George Floyd

Colin Randall: Police suicides on the rise in France after months of protests

The specs

Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery

Power: 268bhp / 536bhp

Torque: 343Nm / 686Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Max touring range: 620km / 590km

Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)

On sale: Later this year

Haemoglobin disorders explained

Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.

Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.

The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.

The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.

A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.