Pablo Zabaleta will be back for Manchester City.
Pablo Zabaleta will be back for Manchester City.

Zabaleta returns to City fold



The Manchester City manager Mark Hughes is sure his Bolton counterpart Gary Megson can handle the pressure being piled on him. Megson came under renewed attack as Bolton dropped into the relegation zone this week. Some pundits have even suggested the Bolton manager could be sacked if his side are beaten by City at the Reebok Stadium today.

While Hughes has concerns of his own as the Blues look to improve a poor return of only one win in six domestic away matches this term, he is also aware of the situation Megson finds himself in. But he does not feel his rival will be letting it get him down. "Gary has been in the game a long time," said Hughes. "He is thick-skinned enough to know it comes with the territory and he will be able to deal with it.

"I am sure he is just focusing on making sure his team is ready for the challenge of meeting us." Hughes is expected to make changes, with the £18million (Dh106.8m) forward Jo now fully recovered from a bout of tonsillitis and the full-back Pablo Zabaleta back from suspension. Zabaleta's presence will help provide some stability for a City defence who have found keeping clean sheets difficult this term, a task not made any easier by the number of changes that have had to be made.

Hughes said: "If you look at the teams with a good defensive record, more often than not it is because they have a settled back four." He added: "Defenders are like attackers, they get into a rhythm of play and develop an understanding with the people around them." With Zabaleta back, Hughes must decide whether to stick with Micah Richards at left-back or try another new combination. Either way, he is set to rein in City's attacking style in an effort to make them harder to beat.

"We have still been trying to play attacking football away from home," the former Wales boss reflected. "Maybe we have to temper that somewhat on occasions because we have played like a home side at times and allowed the team who are at home to play on the counter-attack. "It is a positive in that the opposition is respecting the ability and quality we have. But we have to be more adept at taking points from away games."

* PA Sport

The specs

Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
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The biog

Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents

Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University

As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families

Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too

The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela
Edited by Sahm Venter
Published by Liveright

8 traditional Jamaican dishes to try at Kingston 21

  1. Trench Town Rock: Jamaican-style curry goat served in a pastry basket with a carrot and potato garnish
  2. Rock Steady Jerk Chicken: chicken marinated for 24 hours and slow-cooked on the grill
  3. Mento Oxtail: flavoured oxtail stewed for five hours with herbs
  4. Ackee and salt fish: the national dish of Jamaica makes for a hearty breakfast
  5. Jamaican porridge: another breakfast favourite, can be made with peanut, cornmeal, banana and plantain
  6. Jamaican beef patty: a pastry with ground beef filling
  7. Hellshire Pon di Beach: Fresh fish with pickles
  8. Out of Many: traditional sweet potato pudding
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The specs

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Gertrude Bell's life in focus

A feature film

At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.

A documentary

A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.

Books, letters and archives

Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
 

Vidaamuyarchi

Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

 

THE LIGHT

Director: Tom Tykwer

Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger

Rating: 3/5

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.

How to avoid crypto fraud
  • Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
  • Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
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  • Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
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