Pep Guardiola was pleased to see Manchester City take a step towards their best form with a 4-0 win over Watford ahead of next month's Champions League tie with Real Madrid.
A first-half brace from Raheem Sterling and goals after the break by Phil Foden and Aymeric Laporte helped them return to winning ways after losing to Arsenal on Saturday in the FA Cup semi-finals.
The win leaves Watford deep in relegation trouble with one game left of the Premier League season.
Here's what we learnt from a one-sided contest at Vicarage Road.
Raheem Sterling's best season yet
The star of the show yet again, the England forward scored two more to take his tally for the season to 29, and nine goals in eight starts since Project Restart.
When he plays like this he, and City, are unstoppable. He taunts defenders, runs at speed and knows when to pass, creating space for others.
He was somewhat fortunate to find himself in so much space for the first goal, but his finish was calm and deadly accurate. You know when things are going your way when his penalty was saved by Ben Foster but he was first to the rebound and had an easy tap-in.
City for the Champions League
Manchester City have a 2-1 lead over Real Madrid going into the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie on August 7. Overcome the champions of Spain at the Etihad, and play like this to the best of their considerable ability and it's difficult to see who could stop them.
Granted, a possible quarter-final against Juventus and semi-final up against Barcelona or Bayern Munich is not exactly a stroll in the park, but free-scoring City will not be afraid of anyone and Pep Guardiola will be desperate to lift the biggest club trophy of them all.
Phil Foden, ready made superstar
The City midfielder only turned 20 two months ago, yet is proving to be a formidable player already. He has made 36 appearances for in all competitions this season, and scored eight goals, his latest coming against hapless Watford. More importantly, he has looked more and more comfortable in a team of superstars as the season has progressed, once again looking a class apart at Vicarage Road.
It's impossible to overestimate the impact of David Silva as City over the last decade, and of course the Spanish genius will be missed when he moves on this summer. But Guardiola will take a great deal of comfort from the fact he has a young Englishman ready to step up and take his place already on the books.
Look out, Liverpool
After another breathtaking performance it's difficult to fathom how City have managed to lose nine Premier League games this season. including at Norwich City, Wolves and Southampton.
Even Pep has been puzzled, by his own admission. But one thing is certain, Liverpool - still an incredible 15 points clear with a game in hand - will not be allowed to run away with the title again next season.
Pep will have City hungry to close that gap. Managers always say there is only one thing harder than winning the title, and that's keeping it. Look out for a almighty tussle between the Premier League heavyweights in 2020-21 - with Chelsea and Manchester United also determined to have a say.
Sacking three managers not the answer for Watford
Watford became the first Premier League team to sack three managers in a season when Nigel Pearson departed on Sunday, but the change of management made little difference.
No blame can be placed on interim boss Hayden Mullins, who had less than 48 hours to prepare to face one of the best sides in Europe, but how can players expect to respond when they don't know who is in charge one week to the next?
City have tormented Watford over the last few seasons - the last three games reads Manchester City 18 Watford 0 - but clearly changing management is not the route to success. Maybe the owners of the club need to rethink their own strategy for next season, which is more than likely going to be in the Championship after relegation at the weekend.
Since the Hornets were promoted to the Premier League in 2015, they've lost all 11 meetings with the Blues. Perhaps relegation will provide at least one relief - not facing City next season.
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
'Nightmare Alley'
Director:Guillermo del Toro
Stars:Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara
Rating: 3/5
What is Folia?
Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal's new plant-based menu will launch at Four Seasons hotels in Dubai this November. A desire to cater to people looking for clean, healthy meals beyond green salad is what inspired Prince Khaled and American celebrity chef Matthew Kenney to create Folia. The word means "from the leaves" in Latin, and the exclusive menu offers fine plant-based cuisine across Four Seasons properties in Los Angeles, Bahrain and, soon, Dubai.
Kenney specialises in vegan cuisine and is the founder of Plant Food Wine and 20 other restaurants worldwide. "I’ve always appreciated Matthew’s work," says the Saudi royal. "He has a singular culinary talent and his approach to plant-based dining is prescient and unrivalled. I was a fan of his long before we established our professional relationship."
Folia first launched at The Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills in July 2018. It is available at the poolside Cabana Restaurant and for in-room dining across the property, as well as in its private event space. The food is vibrant and colourful, full of fresh dishes such as the hearts of palm ceviche with California fruit, vegetables and edible flowers; green hearb tacos filled with roasted squash and king oyster barbacoa; and a savoury coconut cream pie with macadamia crust.
In March 2019, the Folia menu reached Gulf shores, as it was introduced at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay, where it is served at the Bay View Lounge. Next, on Tuesday, November 1 – also known as World Vegan Day – it will come to the UAE, to the Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach and the Four Seasons DIFC, both properties Prince Khaled has spent "considerable time at and love".
There are also plans to take Folia to several more locations throughout the Middle East and Europe.
While health-conscious diners will be attracted to the concept, Prince Khaled is careful to stress Folia is "not meant for a specific subset of customers. It is meant for everyone who wants a culinary experience without the negative impact that eating out so often comes with."
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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.
