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Premier League team of the week: Declan Rice rampant and Igor Thiago take a bow

Arsenal opened up a six-point gap at the top of the Premier League, coming from a goal down before holding on for a 3-2 win over Bournemouth.

Declan Rice's drive and energy pulled the Gunners out of a hole after an error by Gabriel Magalhaes led to Bournemouth's opener.

The Brazilian made up for his gaffe, heading in a Rice corner before the latter stole the show with two well-taken strikes.

Aston Villa recovered from their own setback against Arsenal and returned to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest.

Manchester City moved above the Villans on goal difference despite a 1-1 draw against managerless Chelsea in Sunday's late kick-off.

Wolves finally registered their first Premier League win of the season - at the 19th attempt.

A 3-0 win at home to relegation rivals West Ham United doubled their season's tally to six points. Here is our Premier League team of the week (4-5-1 formation):

Goalkeeper

Senne Lammens (Manchester United): A superb save to deny Noah Okafor’s overhead kick ensured Manchester United clung on for a point at Leeds United.

Defenders

Malo Gusto (Chelsea): Marc Cucurella's injury forced Chelsea's temporary coach Calum McFarlane to play the Frenchman in the unfamiliar role of left-back against City. Stuck to his task well as City looked to create overlaps.

Jan Paul van Hecke (Brighton): After a few weeks best described as shaky, the Dutchman produced a calm and reassuring performance to help Brighton get back to winning ways against Burnley.

Cristian Romero (Tottenham): Didn't allow Sunderland a sniff in the first half in arguably his best performance of the season. Recovered well after a blind backpass towards his goalkeeper almost allowed Sunderland in.

Matty Cash (Aston Villa): Always provides an out ball and picked out his teammates with precision crosses, particularly the one that led to the first of John McGinn's goals against Forest.

Midfielders

Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea): McFarlane praised the character and resilience of his players in the wake of a difficult week that saw head coach Enzo Maresca leave the club. Fernandez exemplified both perfectly, coming up with the equaliser against City in injury time.

Bruno Guimaraes (Newcastle): Provider turned poacher as the Brazilian got on the end of a peach of a cross to give Newcastle the lead against Palace.

Declan Rice (Arsenal): If Arsenal are to go all the way and win a first English title in more than 20 years, it will be largely off the indomitable spirit of their totemic midfielder. Two class finishes capped the best performance of the weekend.

John McGinn (Aston Villa): The Scotland international does the nuts-and-bolts job as good as anyone, and proved that he is no slouch in front of goal either. His first came inside the Forest penalty box, the second way outside of it, putting the perfect curl on the ball with John Victor stranded in no-man's land.

Matheus Cunha (Manchester United): Had an early volley ruled out for offside but looked a threat every time he got his head up to run at the Leeds defence. Carried the team on his back and deserved his equaliser.

Forward

Igo Thiago (Brentford): It's hard to think the Brazilian had gone six games without a goal before blasting three past a hapless Everton - his first hat-trick in the Premier League. Only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe and Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane have scored more in Europe’s top five leagues this season.

Coach

Rob Edwards (Wolves): Wolves were the better team against Manchester United in their final game of 2025 and were a cut above West Ham in their first game of this year. A growing sense that Wolves have turned a corner. Whether they have enough games left to get out of trouble is the question.

About%20My%20Father

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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

Company%C2%A0profile

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What is the Supreme Petroleum Council?

The Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council was established in 1988 and is the highest governing body in Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas industry. The council formulates, oversees and executes the emirate’s petroleum-related policies. It also approves the allocation of capital spending across state-owned Adnoc’s upstream, downstream and midstream operations and functions as the company’s board of directors. The SPC’s mandate is also required for auctioning oil and gas concessions in Abu Dhabi and for awarding blocks to international oil companies. The council is chaired by Sheikh Khalifa, the President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi while Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is the vice chairman.

Allardyce's management career

Clubs (10) - Limerick (1991-1992), Perston North End (1992), Blackpool (1994-1996), Notts County (1997-1999), Bolton Wanderers (1999-2007), Newcastle United (2007-2008), Blackburn Rovers (2008-2010), West Ham United (2011-2015), Sunderland (2016), Crystal Palace (2016-2017)

Countries (1) - England (2016)

Key developments

All times UTC 4

While you're here

GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Director: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana

Rating: 4.5/5

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Company name: baraka

Started: July 2020

Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja

Based: Dubai and Bahrain

Sector: FinTech

Initial investment: $150,000

Current staff: 12

Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million

Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)

Country-size land deals

US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:

Louisiana Purchase

If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.

Florida Purchase Treaty

The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty.

Alaska purchase

America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".

The Philippines

At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million.

US Virgin Islands

It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.

Gwadar

The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees.

AWARDS

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COMPANY PROFILE

Company name: Letstango.com

Started: June 2013

Founder: Alex Tchablakian

Based: Dubai

Industry: e-commerce

Initial investment: Dh10 million

Investors: Self-funded

Total customers: 300,000 unique customers every month

What is graphene?

Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.

It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.

It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.

It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.

Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.

The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.

Russia's Muslim Heartlands

Dominic Rubin, Oxford

UAE jiu-jitsu squad

Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)

Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)

First Person

Richard Flanagan

Chatto & Windus

The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah

5.10pm: Continous

5.45pm: Raging Torrent

6.20pm: West Acre

7pm: Flood Zone

7.40pm: Straight No Chaser

8.15pm: Romantic Warrior

8.50pm: Calandogan

9.30pm: Forever Young

THE SPECS

Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder

Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)

Power: 141bhp

Torque: 250Nm

Price: Dh64,500

On sale: Now

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