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Title, Top Four And Relegation To Be Decided – Premier League Set For Dramatic Final Day

May 21, 2022

Will Manchester City or Liverpool be champions? Can Tottenham seal a Champions League spot ahead of north London rivals Arsenal? Which of Burnley or Leeds are heading for the Championship?

These are the main questions to be answered on what promises to be a dramatic and emotional final day of the 2021-22 Premier League season.

It is the first time in 10 years that the title, top four and relegation are all still to be fully decided before the final day.

BBC Sport takes a detailed look at everything at stake on what promises to be a gripping and tense finale.

The BBC will be providing the usual coverage on Sunday, with live text commentary on all 10 games on the BBC Sport website and Radio 5 Live audio commentary on Manchester City v Aston Villa, with updates from around the grounds.

As a special bonus, Final Score will be showing the goals and best action from the seven Premier League games not being shown live elsewhere – those being the matches at the Etihad, Anfield and the Brentford Community Stadium.

City’s title to lose

Manchester City hold a one-point advantage at the top of the table after their draw at West Ham and Liverpool’s victory at Southampton in the penultimate round of games.

Few people expect the defending champions to surrender their lead, and not just because no side has ever started a Premier League final day top and not ended it there.

The main reason is that City have been simply superb this season, winning 28 games to stay out in front despite Liverpool clawing back what was at one stage a double-digit lead.

Pep Guardiola’s men host Aston Villa on Sunday, knowing a win would make Liverpool’s result at home to Wolves academic and seal a fourth league title of their Spanish manager’s six-season reign.

It would also deny Jurgen Klopp’s side a shot at a historic quadruple, with the Carabao and FA Cups already in the Anfield trophy cabinet and the Champions League final to come.

All Liverpool can do is beat Wolves at home and hope Villa can do them a favour at the Etihad, with a draw no good for them because of their goal difference, even if City lose.

This season is the third time in four campaigns that the pair have claimed the top two spots. If they match each other’s result on Sunday, it will be the second time, after 2018-19’s gripping race, that they have been separated at the top by just a point.

North London tussle for fourth spot

Spurs are often mocked for doing things described as ‘Spursy’ – meaning throwing away leads and grasping defeat from the jaws of victory.

It would take something especially ‘Spursy’ for them to miss out on a Champions League spot this season.

Their hard-fought win over Burnley on Sunday, followed by Arsenal’s deserved defeat at Newcastle the following day, means Tottenham go into the final day two points ahead of their fierce rivals.

With their vastly superior goal difference, Antonio Conte’s side can afford a draw at relegated Norwich.

Only a win will do for Arsenal, who are at home to an Everton side now assured of Premier League football next season. If the Canaries can provide a dead cat bounce at Carrow Road and beat Spurs, a win will see the Gunners nick it.

There is also an outstanding European issue still to be settled a bit lower down the table, as Manchester United and West Ham fight it out on Sunday to decide who will be playing in the Europa League and who in the Europa Conference League.

The sixth-placed Red Devils can end a disappointing season by sealing a Europa League spot with a win at Crystal Palace. Anything less, though, leaves the door open for the Hammers, who trail by two points in seventh but have a vastly superior goal difference.

David Moyes’ side are at Brighton on Sunday, hoping to get another shot at a competition in which they reached the semi-finals this season.

Below this there will be the usual jockeying for league placings on the final day, with each place higher in the division worth an estimated extra £3m.

For a club like Aston Villa, for example, it could mean an extra £12m if they can lift themselves from 14th to 10th on the final day.

Burnley or Leeds for the drop?

At half-time at Goodison Park on Thursday, it looked as though three sides would be battling it out to avoid joining Watford and Norwich in the Championship next season.

But Everton’s remarkable comeback win over Crystal Palace leaves Burnley and Leeds to duke it out for survival on the final day.

The pair are level on 35 points but the Clarets have the edge courtesy of a vastly superior goal difference, meaning they only need to match Leeds’ result on the final day to stay up.

Mike Jackson’s side also have home advantage on Sunday, albeit against an in-form Newcastle side hoping to seal a top-half finish.

Jesse Marsch’s Leeds travel to Brentford, who have not conceded in their past four home games and where the Whites have failed to win since 1950.

Golden boot, gloves and the rest

Manchester City and Liverpool are not just battling it out for the title – their respective goalkeepers are also locked in a tussle for the division’s golden gloves.

City’s Ederson and Liverpool’s Alisson both have 20 clean sheets to their name.

There is a very close race taking place at the top of the Premier League goalscorers charts too, with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah currently one ahead of Tottenham’s Son Heung-min.

Kylian Mbappe: Paris St-Germain Forward Agrees In Principle To Stay At French Champions

Emenike Agu

May 21, 2022

France forward Kylian Mbappe has agreed to stay at Paris St-Germain, turning down a move to Real Madrid.

He has signed a lucrative new three-year deal with the French champions.

The 2018 World Cup winner, 23, had been heavily linked with a move to Spain but has committed his future to PSG.

Spain’s La Liga reacted angrily to the news, calling the deal “scandalous” and announcing it plans to file a complaint to Uefa as well as French and EU authorities.

“This type of agreement threatens the economic sustainability of European football,” read a La Liga statement, adding that it put “hundreds of thousands of jobs and sporting integrity at risk in the medium term, not only from European competitions, but also from our domestic leagues”.

According to Spanish football expert Guillem Balague, writing last month, PSG were prepared to offer Mbappe a 150m euro signing-on fee to keep him for another two seasons.

He had agreed a financial package with Real months ago for a potential switch to Spain, but has decided not to join Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

Mbappe said he was “very happy” to stay at PSG after he and club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi announced the striker’s new deal on Parc des Princes pitch before his side played Metz in their final Ligue 1 match of the season.

“I am convinced that here I can continue to grow within a club that gives itself all the means to perform at the highest level,” Mbappe said in a club statement.

“I am also very happy to be able to continue playing in France, the country where I was born, grew up and flourished.”

He initially joined PSG on a season-long loan from Monaco in August 2017 and has helped them win four Ligue 1 titles in five seasons.

With his contract running out in June, the Qatari-owned side were desperate to keep him and were prepared to offer the player a £21m net annual salary.

Mbappe scored in each leg against Real in the Champions League last 16 this season, but it was not enough to prevent PSG from going out 3-2 on aggregate.

‘An insult to football’

Javier Tebas, president of Spain’s La Liga, has been a staunch opponent of big-spending European clubs such as PSG and Manchester City, as well as the proposed European League.

In a post on social media he said: “What PSG is going to do by renewing Mbappe with large amounts of money after losing 700m euros in recent seasons and having more than 600m euros in wages, is an INSULT to football.”

According to a report published earlier this month by a supervisory body of the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), the governing body of the French professional leagues, PSG made a loss of 224.3m euros during the 2020-21 season.

That came after a loss of 124.2m euros in 2019-20, when the Ligue 1 season was cut short in March 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tebas also added PSG president Al-Khelaifi “is as dangerous as the Super League”.

Real Madrid and Barcelona were among 12 leading European clubs that signed up for a breakaway competition last April, but the proposal collapsed within days following a backlash from players and fans, as well as governments and football’s governing bodies. PSG and Bayern Munich opposed the controversial plans.

The La Liga statement, released after Tebas’ tweet, said it was “scandalous that a club like PSG” could agree such a contract “while those clubs that could accept the arrival of the player without seeing their wage bill compromised are left without being able to sign him”.

La Liga said PSG were “not respecting the rules” and repeated many of the accusations made by its president.

F1: Leclerc Tops Final Practice In Spain – Qualifying Build-Up

Emenike Agu

May 21, 2022

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fastest in final practice at the Spanish Grand Prix as it appeared that Mercedes may have finally rejoined the fight at the front of the field.

Leclerc was just 0.072 seconds quicker than his title rival, Max Verstappen of Red Bull.

But the two Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were third and fourth, both within 0.2secs of Leclerc and ahead of his team-mate Carlos Sainz and the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez.

On Friday, Hamilton had declared himself “super-happy” with progress Mercedes had made with developments to their car.

And on Saturday morning, technical director Mike Elliott said the team were “definitely able to run the car much closer to a position where we’d like to run it”.

Mercedes’ inability to run the car as low as they wanted for maximum performance without triggering severe aerodynamic “bouncing” has been their biggest limitation during a difficult start to 2022.

Behind Perez, McLaren’s Lando Norris, also with an upgraded car this weekend, was 0.631 seconds off the pace in seventh, ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon

Revealed! Tiger Nut relieves Urinary infection

May 20, 2022

Many individuals, including diabetics, eat tiger nut mainly for its sweetness and for its high content of arginine, which is reported to stimulate the production of insulin. Now, in a new study, researchers have said it is a fruit that should be consumed more to prevent and treat urinary tract infections.

Tiger nuts — also known as chufa, yellow nutsedge, or earth almonds, are not actually nuts, but rather edible tubers. They’re the size of a chickpea but wrinkly with a chewy texture and sweet nutty flavor similar to coconut.

Tiger nuts were one of the first plants cultivated in Egypt and traditionally used as both food and medicine.

They’re rich in a variety of nutrients and have been linked to several health benefits — ranging from better digestion to a reduced risk of heart disease.

The experts had evaluated the antioxidant vitamins (vitamins A, C and E) and antibacterial potential of tiger nut extracts against germs that cause human urinary tract infection pathogens. These are Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumonia.

The susceptibility of these disease-causing germs towards the tiger nut extracts was compared with each other and with gentamicin, which was used as a positive control. All plant extracts showed antimicrobial activities against the selected microorganisms at various concentrations and the methanol extract was found to be most effective compared to ethyl acetate extract.

In addition, the antioxidant vitamin composition in the different extracts of tiger nut indicated that it contained an appreciable amount of these vitamins. However, the concentrations of these vitamins were considerably higher in the methanol extract, with Vitamin E exceeding the daily recommended intake by international standards in both extracts.

The study published in the Journal of Agroalimentary Processes and Technologies involved Imaobong E. Daniel and Etukudo Edigeal D. at the Department of Chemistry, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, and it was to authenticate the medicinal importance of tiger nut.

Urinary tract infections (UTI) affect any part of the urinary tract which could be the kidney, ureter, bladder and urethra. The causes of UTIs include sexual intercourse with infected persons, poor hygiene, holding urine longer than necessary, underlying kidney stones, diabetes and loss of oestrogen.

All over the world, millions of people are diagnosed with urinary tract infections (UTI) every year. It is estimated that about 35 percent of healthy individuals suffer from symptoms of UTI at some stage in their lives, with incidences occurring mostly in women than men.

Urinary tract infections are usually treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics, which in most cases ensure short and long-term cures. Unfortunately, these germs have gradually developed resistance to these drugs due to indiscriminate and improper use of most commercial antimicrobial drugs commonly used in the treatment of infectious diseases.

Tiger nut has long been recognised as one of the best nutritional crops used to augment diets, since a substantial intake decreases reported cases of various health-related conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity, and is also ideal for children, older persons and sportsmen, as well as an excellent source of iron and calcium for body growth and development.

Tiger nut is taken by diabetics mainly for its sucrose and starch and for its high content of arginine which is reported to stimulate the production of insulin. It is believed that they help prevent thrombosis/cancer, improve blood circulation and lower blood cholesterol levels. It exhibits a high anti-sickling effect on sickle cell.

The researchers, however, said that further studies should be carried out on tiger nuts for comprehensive structural elucidation of its constituents in order to formulate a new drug to treat urinary tract infections.

The health benefits reflect a reduction of low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, which is good for sportsmen and women and those intending to lose weight. It is also said to serve as a cure for flatulence and diarrhoea, and as a control against heart attacks, thrombosis and colon cancer, among others.

Tiger nut contains a good quantity of Vitamin B1, which assists in balancing the central nervous system and helps to encourage the body to adapt to stress. The milk supplies the body with enough quantity of Vitamin E essential for fertility in both men and women. Vitamin E also delays cell ageing, improves the elasticity of the skin and helps to clear the appearance of wrinkles, acne and other skin alterations.

In China, tiger nut milk is used as a liver tonic, heart stimulant, and is taken to heal serious stomach pain, promote normal menstruation, heal mouth and gum ulcers, used in Ayurvedic medicines and is a powerful aphrodisiac (sexual stimulant).

However, that tiger nuts positively affect the male sex drive has yet to be proven scientifically; so this claim is speculative at best. Rat studies have determined that ingesting tiger nuts increases male sexual behaviour and decreases sperm abnormalities in rats.

Along with its high energy content (starch, fats, sugars and proteins), tiger nuts are rich in minerals such as phosphorus and potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron necessary for bones, tissue repair, muscles, the bloodstream and body growth and development.

Tiger nuts can help people better manage their allergies by acting as a replacement for food items that contain common allergens. For example, tiger nut flour is a gluten-free alternative to flours containing wheat. Tiger nut milk is an alternative to cow milk, which contains lactose.

Although more research is needed, one initial study shows that tiger nut extracts have antibacterial properties. These extracts are particularly effective against E. coli, S. aureus, and Salmonella sp in a petri dish environment. The study was not a human trial, however. Future research is required to determine whether eating tiger nuts provides any protection against those particular bacteria.

Exploring One Island East, Hong Kong, The Grade-A Office Building With World Class Facility

Angel Gimalo

May 20, 2022

One Island East is a super tall skyscraper for commercial offices, located in Taikoo Place, in Hong Kong.

This 68-story high building, is a Grade-A office building with world class facility that has attracted enormous interest from tenant community.

One Island East is within one of the busiest business districts in Hong Kong, which makes it attractive for the business elite to have office space in it.

As it is the sixth tallest building in Hong Kong, it is 298 meters (978 feet) tall, which also has two additional basement floors.

The sky lobby is located on the 37th and 38th floors, with 37 elevators designated for different areas of the building.

More than 300 multinational corporations dwells in the complex, accessorized by serviced apartments, multiple local and foreign restaurants, conference facilities as well as parking facilities.

An accident that occurred during the 2008 Tropical storm Kammuri, the window panes of the building were shattered, sending glass across the street, where luckily there were no injuries.

Representing the best in class in both design specifications and environmental credentials, One Island East is one of the few office properties in Hong Kong which has been awarded the BEAM’s (Building Environmental Assessment Method) highest “Platinum” rating in recognition for its design and energy efficiency performance.

Blood sugar benefits of Mulberry Extract

Cleopatra Okohai

May 20, 2022

The potential benefits of mulberry fruit extracts to reduce blood sugar and insulin increase after a meal may be achievable at a lower dose than previously reported, says a new study from Unilever R&D.

Mulberries are the fruits of mulberry trees and related to figs and breadfruit.

The trees are traditionally grown for their leaves, mainly in Asia and North America, as they’re the only food that silkworms eat.

They carry colorful berries, most commonly black, white, or red — that are often made into wine, fruit juice, tea, jam, or canned foods, but can also be dried and eaten as a snack.

Due to their sweet flavor, impressive nutritional value, and various health benefits, mulberries are gaining popularity worldwide

Fresh mulberries consist of 88% water and only have 60 calories per cup (140 grams).

By fresh weight, they provide 9.8% carbs, 1.7% fiber, 1.4% protein, and 0.4% fat.

Mulberries are often consumed dried, similar to raisins. In this form, they contain 70% carbs, 14% fiber, 12% protein, and 3% fat — making them fairly high in protein compared to most berries.

Data published in the British Journal of Nutrition indicated that beneficial effects for blood sugar management may occur at doses as low as 0.37 grammes.

The potential benefits were linked to a specific bioactive called deoxynojirimycin (DNJ), which is a reported inhibitor of the enzyme alpha-glucosidase, thereby preventing the digestion of carbohydrates such as starch and sugar.

“These trials have shown that doses of mulberry fruit extract as low as 0.37g mulberry fruit extract, containing 2 mg DNJ, produced a consistent reduction in the post-prandial glucose and post-prandial insulin response to a realistic carbohydrate load from boiled rice, with no apparent evidence of malabsorption or intolerance,” wrote the Unilever R&D researchers.

The study adds to a solid body of science supporting mulberry extracts for blood sugar management and potential anti-diabetes effects. Other studies have examined not just extracts from fruit but also extracts from mulberry leaves. It was in the British Journal of Nutrition.

Extracts are already available in the market, with claims to aid blood sugar management and weight management.

The new study builds on earlier work by Unilever R&D, which found that 1.5 grammes of a mulberry fruit extract could significantly reduce blood sugar and insulin increases after a meal.

Using boiled rice as the carbohydrate source, the researchers performed two trials with healthy Indian adults aged between 20 and 50. For the first trial, 84 people were randomly assigned to receive the boiled rice and one of five different doses of the mulberry fruit extract: 0, 0.37, 0.75, 1.12 and 1.5g.

Reductions in post-prandial glucose ranging from 23% to 27% were observed, while post-prandial insulin levels were reduced by between 14 and 35%.

Since consistent effects were observed for the lowest (0.37 grams) dose, the second trial examined the potential of even lower doses. Again, 84 people were randomly assigned to different mulberry extracts in boiled rice: 0, 0.04, 0.12, 0.37 g.

In the second trial, only the 0.37 g dose led to significant reductions in post-prandial glucose (about 20%) and post-prandial insulin (about 17%).

“The data suggests that mulberry fruit extract could be used to achieve these benefits as a commercial food ingredient, provided it meets other technical, safety and consumer acceptance criteria,” wrote the scientists.

Spanish Police Union Warns Mallorca Airport On Verge Of Collapse, Urgent Recruitment Required

Angel Gimalo

May 20, 2022

Mallorca airport could “collapse” without the urgent recruitment of more staff, a Spanish police union has warned.

Thousands of holidaymakers have already flocked to Mallorca this year – with many experiencing nightmare delays at the island’s Palma airport.

According to the Unified Police Union in the Balearic Islands, the nightmare queues are only going to get worse.

Why Are The Delays At Mallorca Airport So Bad?

As early summer tourism surges, tourists have faced winding queues at Mallorca airport security.

“It’s going to be a nightmare this summer at the airport if it’s going to be like this” one British tourist posted on social media earlier this week.

More police officers are urgently needed for customs checks, tourism operators have claimed.

Without these personnel, the police union insists that “the airport would collapse.”

But recruitment isn’t easy – police officers don’t want to come to work in Mallorca because they don’t get paid enough to cope with the island’s sky-high cost of living.

The union estimates that there are roughly 200 national police vacancies in the Balearic Islands, with the shortage flowing down to the airport.

Tourism chiefs have urgently called for more customs staff to handle the influx of travellers.

More delays could put people off Mallorca, Líneas Aéreas association president Javier Gándara warned.

“This problem of congestion in passport controls has transcended in international media, which could discourage international travellers to come to our holiday country,” he said.

“We cannot afford it.”

According to ACI modelling, delays and cancellations are inevitable at two thirds of European airports this summer.

Ministry To Provide World Class Transport System

Olasunbo Okoromi

May 20, 2022

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, says that the Ministry remains resolute and undeterred in Its vision to revolutionize the transport sector into a world class system.

The Permanent Secretary, who made this known today in Abuja at the 9th Nigeria Annual Transport Lecture tagged: “Nigeria Transportation for Development, Sectional Achievement, Prospects and Challenges,” said that is why the Federal Government has rigorously strived to rehabilitate the existing narrow gauge rail lines to Standard Gauge lines to provide connectivity between cities and West Africa.

“The development of Deep Sea Ports and the automation of our ports operations to facilitate the ease of doing business at the ports are evident reality of the Ministry’s zeal for sectoral development,” Ajani said are further attestation to the Ministry’s resolve.

Furthermore, she disclosed that to strengthen this position, the Transport Ministry concurrently has ongoing Public-Private engagement in the development of world class transport system within the properties of the National Inland Waterways in Lagos State and encouraging other States to key into the drive.

The Permanent Secretary further stated that the current administration recognizes the importance of the transportation sector to the industrialization and diversification of the Nigerian Economy and is doing everything to ensure infrastructural development to drive the sector even as the Ministry is beleaguered by insufficient funding, minimal private sector participation and duplication of functions that tends to cause inter-agency conflicts.

Making her presentation, a one-time Director, Road Transport and Mass Transit Administration, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Anthonia Ekpa, decried neglect for the road sector by the Federal Government as against huge sums accorded other modal means of transport. She said that prioritizing the road sector is cheaper and would have more coverage on roads constructed and buses bought contrary to money spent to build just an airport runway or rail track.

She revealed that the United Nations records in 2018-2019 showed that people died mostly on roads and called all to be advocate for development of the road sector.

The Director General, National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Jelani Aliyu, stated that the theme of this year’s lecture was aptly chosen in view of the fact that transportation is the backbone for economic development of any nation and a critical investment sector that stimulates economic growth.

He also stated that the theme is in line with the policies of the NADDC geared towards promoting and enhancing value addition in the transport and automotive sector of the economy by creating a conducive business climate to further enhance investment inflow and industrialization.

Towards the realization of the theme, Jelani stated that the agency is rapidly working towards developing and promoting advanced transport technology in the automotive industry in line with the global paradigm shift to carbonless transport system.

“Currently, one of our top focus areas is scaling up production of applicable electric vehicles locally, to enable Nigeria meet its target for the Paris Accord and 2060 net zero commitment,” Jelani stated.

Putin Promises To Bolster Russia’s It Security In Face Of Cyber Attacks

faith Jegede

May 20, 2022

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the number of cyber-attacks on Russia by foreign “state structures” had increased several times over and that Russia must bolster its cyber defenses by reducing the use of foreign software and hardware.

The websites of many state-owned companies and news websites have suffered sporadic hacking attempts since Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine on 24 February, for many reasons.

Putin said “Targeted attempts are being made to disable the Internet resources of Russia’s critical information infrastructure,” adding that media and financial institutions had been targeted.

“Serious attacks have been launched against the official sites of government agencies. Attempts to illegally penetrate the corporate networks of leading Russian companies are much more frequent as well,” he said.

In a meeting with the Security Council, Putin said that Russia would need to improve information security in key sectors and switch to using domestic technology and equipment.

Moscow has long sought to improve its domestic internet infrastructure, even disconnecting itself from the global internet during tests last summer.

However, the unprecedented Western barrage of sanctions imposed in response to Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine has increased the pressure to make Russia’s IT systems more resilient.

Extreme May Temperatures: Dry Air Carrying Dust From North Africa Enters Parts Of Spain

Angel Gimalo

May 20, 2022

Large parts of Spain were under alert Friday as a wave of intense heat began sweeping across the country, leaving residents sweltering through May temperatures that rank among the hottest in two decades.

A mass of hot, dry air carrying dust from North Africa has pushed temperatures up to 15 degrees above average, with the mercury topping 40 C (104 F) in parts of the country.

The State Meteorological Agency said it expected the “unusual and extreme” temperatures to peak on Saturday.

By Friday, a handful of records had already been set. In the southern Spanish city of Jaén, the temperature climbed to 38.7 C (101.7 F) — 15 degrees above the seasonal average — in a record for the month of May.

In the central city of Cuenca, the daily low temperature of 19.5 C (67.1 F) was two degrees higher than the previous May minimum.

While the temperatures are expected to fall short of what meteorologists in Spain define as a heat wave, what makes this episode singular will be its persistence, with nighttime temperatures expected to hover above 20 C (68 F) in many places.

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