Managing the unmanageable club

Just to keep things ticking over if nothing else a few articles from the archives will appear on the blog from time to time. They may have a resonance to current day events. Often they will not.

This was published in November 2009

It seems somewhat inevitable that in most Liverpool debates all roads are leading back to Kenny Dalglish. When he left Anfield citing the stress his job was causing the club was labelled unmanageable.

That same description has been applied to other clubs. Most notably Newcastle. Kenny left St James Park after just 20 months despite coming as close as any of his predecessors to ending a trophy drought lasting almost half a century.

All but one of Dalglish’s successors - Roy Evans - has fallen foul of health problems during their stints in charge with two victims of heart complaints.

Though not the last of The Bootroom benchmark by which all who hold the manager’s post are measured he was certainly the last to be considered successful.

One thing the man widely acclaimed the best player to pull on a red shirt never achieved in the hotseat courtesy of UEFA’s ban on Football League clubs covering his entire spell at the helm was lifting the European Cup.

Though the number of trophies collected under Gerard Houllier’s reign may well be larger in number at six some of the four Rafael Benitez has won along with Champions League finals and semi-finals are the better gauge of progress and performance against the club’s peers.

People looking at Liverpool’s season as far as January tended to deem The Reds either lucky to be top for as long as they were or criticised for not having a better stranglehold over the field.

It is a stark contrast to Sir Alex Ferguson who even with things not going too well was expected to ensure his charges come good. The Old Trafford manager’s record means he and his sides are rarely written off.

Opinions and headlines remain just as negative with most of Wednesday’s back pages hosting at least one disapproving note carrying the baton handed to them from the weekend and Monday’s reports. Matters ballooned quickly as rumours about Rafa’s grip on his post being so tenuous that he could be looking for a new post either as early as tomorrow morning or at least following the trip to Middlesbrough seem to have swept around. Punters placing bets on both those eventualities forced two bookmakers to suspend trade on those particular flutters.

All on the day of a huge match it provided grist to the mill of countless hacks who rather than produce competent or necessarily cogent analysis prefer lazy judgments and stories designed to suggest one paper knows something its rivals do not. Unfortunately so many journalists even the usually good ones are happy to do little more than scratch at the surface and as a result fall short of fully serving their readers.

Take as an example a comment that Rafa would as he had told reporters over a number of days only talk about football in the build up to the Manchester City game. His stated desire to only concentrate on football as the columnists begged him to do just weeks earlier rather than get in a war of words with his board or a fellow manager was painted as a refusal to confirm, deny or quell speculation.

Good timing for all the media with Real Madrid the team many believe Benitez sees himself as destined to manage coming just 72 hours after the game.

The contract and others need to be sorted but is in the middle for drafting. Versions are likely to have been sent across The Atlantic Ocean and back a number of times. There may be provisions relating to any possible sale by the owners but the sticking points could just as easily be based more on linguistic and legal meanings than principles

Terms and conditions need not only be agreeable to all parties. They need to be enforceable.

Coverage is taking this course due to the time limits reporters had indicated expiring and online communities - far more immediate than a daily letters page - waste no time in poking a finger at just how much or more appropriately who little was known in the first place when the many confident predictions turn out to be exactly what they were in the first place - mere speculation.

Liverpool generate huge amounts of interest and for the benefit of future column inches be they in the immediate few days or slightly longer term things can be played out with endless speculation from a host of sources.

Then there the forums and message boards which provide not only a reaction but in some cases another story. They are also a measure publishers can not only count clicks by but price and sell precious advertising.

Up to 60 games a season for the most heavily supported clubs also do their bit.

When compared to Manchester United in almost every department of the field the Red Devils are superior or at worst level pegging when the generally accepted first choice options are put head to head.

However, when reserves below those first XIs are taken in to account resources in the human let alone financial sense are much deeper. Rio Ferdinand cost more than the entire backline Liverpool field no matter what the permutation. In fact the fee Leeds received in July 2002 is £5.36 million more than the estimated fee of all 11 defensive players who have made a single appearance for the club this term.

At the other end of the field Liverpool currently have one £20 million plus striker. United have three plus another attacking player who when he gets his inevitable if not imminent move to the Santiago Bernabeu will have a market value probably twice that sum if not more. Yet Liverpool outscored that same attack until early February and only trail the tally by three.

In midfield The Reds may have been fortunate to nurture a talent who making huge adjustments for the fistful of petrodollars Manchester City were prepared to offer for Kaka would need £50 million or more to draft in. Javier Mascherano cost just over a third of that basic estimate. United have more than treble that number of that worth in the same department.

The background climate and turmoil makes what Rafa Benitez has managed to do within the time he has had an even bigger achievement than may be obvious at first glance.

Owners nobody wants possess a club they never wanted for any altruistic reasons and which they now cannot afford.

An administrative war sees joint custodians at loggerheads with each other while they both fight an individual battle with the chief executive or manager respectively.

One particular owner may have made his peace with the manager and created an uneasy alliance. Even if they appear bedfellows that same person launched a number of lies and attacks post Athens when Rafa called to see the cards they were said to have been holding and found to be bluffing their hands. These incidents only ceased as part of a PR drive with fans.

Critics suggest Liverpool’s league position papered over the cracks for a long time this season.

Maybe they should consider that Rafa has not so much covered cracks as a huge number of chasms in the wall and somehow stopped the whole house from falling down around our ears.

Just like most of the road to Istanbul Liverpool have been punching above their weight for most of the campaign.

Being second now and finishing there or even third if Chelsea manage to get their act together but very close in terms of points to whoever leads the table would be an accurate reflection of the side’s true standing.

The knock-out blow administered to AC Milan may not have been delivered domestically yet but thanks to good guidance The Reds have worked their way up from prize fighter to genuine title contenders even if the shot does not come in 2008-09.

That other similarly impossible challenge for managers Newcastle have unwanted ownership, passionate fans who yearn to challenge but their heydays can largely only read about in history books.

There isn’t one Toon fan who wouldn’t want to swap places with Liverpool. Despite also holding a rich tradition and the advantage of Champions League revenue on top of other funds generated the Magpies now spend their seasons attempting to escape relegation dogfights not competing for major honours.

Unfortunately the fans have been complicit in their club lurching from crisis to crisis with protests and calls for the heads of various managers. The board appeased Sir John Hall’s ‘Geordie nation’ by obliging once the pressure got too much when the club needed stability.

Even Bobby Robson failed to escape the wrath and just as he was in the 1990s with England probably felt hounded out of a job.

The old regime threw in its hand allowing Mike Ashley to take charge once he had negotiated purchase of the Hall family’s holding and now few managers would take a job which should be amongst the most prestigious in the game.

Joe Kinnear has performed well but a manager without a top flight job in almost a decade and a post of any sort for four years would not have been the first choice for anything other than a fire-fighter rather than an appointment for the long term.

Rafael Benitez who has not only delivered progress season after season but secured trophies and has Liverpool on the cusp of being a genuine force in the league will be following that back and white patent in a time when there is no black and white just shades of grey.

Rafa is somehow managing the unmanageable club. If he was to leave for whatever reason the Reds’ ability to challenge would be set back. Those who may have called for it may feel like those Newcastle and England fans - only realise just what we had when he has gone.

Liverpool FC's unlikley heroes

Four men who unwittingly played a huge role in Liverpool Football Club's history from 1893 onwards.

Herbie Arthur

Neither Anfield nor Goodison Park hosted the first Merseyside derby. That honour went to Bootle FC’s Hawthorne Road ground which staged the 1893 Liverpool Senior Cup final.

Strong sides would usually be fielded but Everton arranged a friendly with Dumbartonshire outfit Renton on the same day. Many reckoned the Blues, who had just finished third in the Football League, didn’t fancy risking their reputation so opted for a scratch XI while their first team took on the two-times Scottish Cup winners.

As befitted the antagonistic circumstances of the split which provided the city with two clubs events on the field were not without controversy. Liverpool triumphed courtesy of a Tom Wyllie strike though had a goal disallowed while Everton were denied a seemingly clear penalty in the final throws of the game.

Well before they had those calls waived away Everton had vehemently protested against a number of decisions by referee Herbie Arthur.

Winners medals minted by Bovril were the reward for each player. However, in order to ensure there would be no unrest the ceremonies were abandoned and the trophy only handed over at the beginning of the following season. Everton issued letters of complaint about the referee which the county FA rejected instead issuing the Goodison side with a warning about their conduct.


Jose Maria Garcia-Aranda

As those Everton players discovered arguing with an official is often pointless. They rarely change their minds. However, it didn’t take outraged Liverpool players crowding Spanish referee Jose Maria Garcia-Aranda to alter his apparent decision to give Roma a penalty when Markus Babbel clearly handled inside the area ten minutes from time in a UEFA Cup tie during February 2001.

The Reds held a 2-0 advantage from the opening leg in Italy. But with Michael Owen having missed a penalty and Urugyan Gianni Guigou curling the ball in from 25 yards were clinging to the aggregate lead.

Liverpool were under huge pressure with extra-time promising more of the same had the visitors not grabbed a third before the whistle. Even the Kop seemed to play no part in the subsequent signalling a corner. Senor Garcia-Arnanda later said he had never given a penalty. Liverpool defended the flag kick, clung to their advantage and went on to lift the trophy after a thrilling golden goal win over CD Alaves.


Les Massie

Scotsmen have played pivotal roles in Liverpool’s history but perhaps the most crucial, Bill Shankly, had a little help from an Aberdeen born forward under his charge. Though not one who turned out in a red shirt.

In late November 1959 less than a fortnight after Phil Taylor decided managing the club was an anxiety he could no longer sustain Liverpool travelled to Huddersfield Town. The game was decided by a single goal scored after Roger Hunt, covering at right-half while Dick White had a head wound stitched, failed to clear a cross. Les Massie was on hand to beat Bert Slater.

It was Shankly’s last game at the Terrier’s helm. Having already identified him as the prime target for the Anfield post Liverpool’s board saw fit to redouble their efforts. Shanks’ services were secured 72 hours later.

Don Revie

During the mid-1960s and early 1970s Don Revie guided possibly the most gifted but also sometimes niggling and brutal group of players any club had assembled. One match at Goodison Park had to be temporarily suspended when Everton skipper Derek Temple was laid out and a brawl threatened to ensue.

‘Dirty Leeds’ was a hackneyed but often appropriate epithet to carry. Yet at the same time Revie turned under performers into high achievers, talent spotted potential in the lower leagues and nurtured some exceptional youngsters.
He had taken a club close to bankruptcy and teetering on relegation to the third tier to one holding genuine hopes of winning the European Cup. His techniques were revolutionary. Though domestically Leeds won just two league titles, one League Cup and a sole FA Cup.

In Europe they lifted the Fairs Cup twice. But they could have achieved so much more had a belief that skill and flair would have been enough. Five times they finished runners-up in the title race and were beaten cup finalists on three occasions. Liverpool were principal, though far from sole, beneficiaries of that desire to win at all costs including an historic debut cup win in 1965.

Sweeping the dust away

Anfield's knotted tendrils

Any supporter deciding to review Monday evening’s match during the reruns LFCTV are obliged to provide will join those present at the DW Stadium in witnessing possibly the worst performance of what has been a poor season.

Comparisons are inevitably made with the same stage last term when Liverpool were bouncing not just the Premier League makeweights but the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid out of sight.

At that time Liverpool’s big guns, the world class stars, were virtually flawless and dragged the lesser lights.

Though it wasn’t just about the artisans amongst the so called journeymen.

The older more experienced players were assisting those of more tender years to grow up as professionals. But they were able to do so at a steady pace.

Now some are showing signs of wear and tear both physically and mentally after providing not just support to the headline acts but being required - for a number of reasons - to be a mainstay.

A very different Liverpool Football Club is currently on display and those big time players are pulling up just as short as the lesser stars, whipping boys and youngsters.

In a complete contrast to last term possibly dragging them down.

Without the same technical ability to rely on their struggle is intensified. Citing the departure of Xabi Alonso - as good a player as he is - doesn’t explain the malaise.

An unusually scathing Rafael Benitez offered post-match comments not even the official channels can spin - well not much.

All the hallmarks of teams he has produced since becoming a manager including squads of far worse quality of those currently at Anfield and elsewhere appear missing.

Apart from flashes a lack of playing discipline rather than behavioural standards seemed left somewhere on the Melwood training grounds. Just a few basics such seemingly relied on by a team desperate not to make an error and flagging when an early goal isn‘t found.

The problems within the club are many fold. Work in the long and short term will be need to be carried out to rectify them. Gathering the tendrils and taking a look identifies that many are entwined and will get worse as long as the public face - that displayed on the pitch is inevitably where the focus remains - unravels.

A business literally based on results leaves no other option but so long as it does other issues are, if not masked, then certainly pushed to the background.

Popping centenary balloons

Old Trafford celebrates its centenary today. However, little of the dewy eyed nostalgia is focusing on the first game held at the stadium. Liverpool were the visitors and given that the Reds wrecked the house warming there seems every reason to suspect antipathy between the sides has some history.

Below is a match report from the game - not one gathered first hand via attendance.




19 February 1910                                 Division One


Manchester United 3                                       Liverpool 4
Turnbull                                                          Goddard (2)
Homer                                                            Stewart (2)
Wall



Manchester United and before their name change Newton Heath had never enjoyed the finest of venues. Their first home North Road and subsequent dwelling Bank Street located just a few hundred yards away had both suffered from terrible surfaces which no amount of tending could ever fix. They had been almost marsh like at times and at the latter venue there was also fumes from neighbouring factories to contend with.

In 1902 the club was facing bankruptcy. Their ground closed by bailiffs they were struggling to continue only getting through week to week through various fund raisers.

One of the many ideas was to charge fans to see 'Micheal The Bank Street Canary' sing but the bird in question could not sing. It  and was in fact a goose which wasn't seen again following one Christmas during the 1890s.

Rescue came via another animal and a local brewing magnate John Davies who actually wanted to buy the club captain’s prized St Bernard dog for his daughter after it escaped from an event designed to boost club coffers but was instead induced to pump money into the club and ultimately purchase it which cleared their debts.

The club went through many changes - not just its name but also its playing colours which changed from yellow and green halves to red with white shorts.

There was a bigger modification to the club as Davies resolved to build a new stadium on a plot of land specifically bought for the purpose in the Trafford area outside Manchester.

It took time to acquire the land and to sort out proposals for the arena which aimed to accommodate 100,000 fans. The plans were revised when it became clear that the finances would not be in place. Renowned architect Archibald Leith was able to revise the plans with 60,000 spaces now accommodated for fans. Work ended at the end of 1909 though it took a few more months before it was considered ready.

Liverpool were to be the first guests at Old Trafford as the ground became known. Somewhere between 45,000 and 50,000 fans were said to have been recorded as present through the gates arriving in all manner of contraptions as well as foot.

Trams the more traditional method of transportation to football matches were unable to cope with the numbers and ground to a halt. 5,000 fans were said to have gained entry without paying due to the sheer numbers who forced themselves through turnstiles. Some also sneaked through unfinished features such as window fanlights and massed on the terraces.

The Sporting Chronicle described the venue as: "the most handsomest, the most spacious and the most remarkable arena I have ever seen. As a football ground it is unrivalled in the world, it is an honour to Manchester and the home of a team who can do wonders when they are so disposed." Most of the ground was uncovered so open to the elements with an admission price of six old pence.

The same journalist who waxed so lyrical about his surroundings possibly was most likely equally taken by the home side’s start as within 15 minutes the home side were 2-0 ahead. They also won the toss. Sandy Turnbull and Tom Homer securing an advantage which was held to the break. Turnbull found the net with a header after Dick Duckworth dropped a free-kick just 10 yards from goal.

Homer turned in a shot after Sam Hardy could only parry a Harold Halse shot. Everything seemed in place for the stadium to be inaugurated in just the right way for the home contingent as Liverpool could only muster sporadic attacks.

Little may have been achieved but the visitors kept their white shirts flowing towards the United goal in their honest efforts to get back into the game. They were frustrated by offside decisions after burst down each flanks were spoiled by players in the centre simply not holding their runs.

Charlie Roberts held the prolific Jack Parkinson in check for a long time but seemed to let his concentration lapse. Sam Blott suddenly found his hands were full and when a handful of forwards and half-backs combined in midfield Arthur Goddard pulled one back. It stayed 2-1 until the break.

Just after the players resumed their conflict but United held on to the slender lead which they actually increased with 20 minutes remaining during another good spell. George Wall managing to beat Hardy after he cut in from the left then shot low and hard in to the corner of goal.

Goddard restored some more pride soon after as Liverpool began to quickly reassert themselves. They were regularly outwitting as well as outpacing the United defence but there still seemed little prospect of the visitors so much as gaining a point as most expected United to get an instruction to see the game out.

James Ernest Mangnall who gained the job after his effective predecessors Harry Stafford and James West were found guilty of making illegal payments to players soon after joining the club’s takeover may well have given that direction but James Stewart levelled then with the home side shell shocked grabbed a winner.

Manchester United: Moger, Stacey, Hayes, Duckworth, Roberts, Blott, Meredith, Halse, Turnbull, Wall

Liverpool: Hardy, Chorlton, Rogers, Robinson, Harrop, Bradley, Goddard, Stewart, Parkinson, Orr, McDonald

Do you remember your first time?

A 1-1 home draw against second tier opposition would not, indeed probably should not, live too long in the memory. But not for a then 12 year old boy quite literally on a pilgrimage to The Kop.

On 22 November 1983 Liverpool took on Fulham in a League Cup replay.

With a very different climate surrounding the game then it was the type of game parents were relaxed about allowing their young to cut some football teeth on.

At least so long as advice about going to close to the front was followed.

The crowd was a relatively meagre 15,783. Even The Kop, as was to be found in a very painful way involving the folly of not standing pitch side of a crush barrier at a league game some months later, was more sparse than usual.

As a spectacle the game was fairly scrappy but drinking in the atmosphere albeit muted, chanting and seeing the likes of Bruce Grobbelaar, Graeme Souness, Phil Neal, Ian Rush and especially Kenny Dalglish in the flesh outweighed any lack of flair.

Except for Dalglish netting from short distance memories of the game are few. In fact the goal mirrored events before us. The build up is lost to any effective recall except that the build up came down the Liverpool left - probably.

But that didn’t matter King Kenny had provided something any first match would be complete with - a goal from one of his sainted boots - and one witnessed without a Match of the Day camera intervening between the viewers eyes and the scene.

There was disappointment in a late penalty award and Kevin Lock equalising to take the tie to a third game at Craven Cottage which Liverpool won in extra-time.

More than anything else it’s the sights and sounds in and around the ground which still linger.

Outside the single most striking was The Kop. Approached from Oakfield Road and lit up like a beacon.

Closer in a steep bank was visible with bodies seeming to surge up the steps like ants.

Just before the ground came the smell of onions hit the nostrils. They would accompany hot-dogs and burgers on offer to anyone with a hunger for that type of food or perhaps a desire to run the gauntlet of a stomach bug - ask yourself where a man operating a small unit with a hotplate run on butane gas canisters (a) goes to the toilet and (b) how he washes his hands if he does so.

Golden goal ticket and programme sellers punctuated the air with calls to purchase their wares.

Once in the final few steps of my own journey were an impatient clamber before the scene which had greeted millions of fans or just over 90 years met my own eyes - the lush Anfield turf. Inside there were no men with rolled up copies of the Echo just piss running down the terraces as the excesses of pre-match refreshment made its inevitable way out of the body.

Compared to the Premiership era it may feel like football’s dark ages but in truth it was a golden age. There was something special about the old Kop terrace and those who stood there.

Even though it has been has been demolished for 16 years there remains a residual spirit of what Bill Shankly termed a twelfth man. Thousands of people thinking, acting and supporting as one mind and voice.

Reduced in its powers maybe but nonetheless but still backing its team and its manager.

Just What Does Arsene Know?

Rafael Benitez is often said to be one of the most wilful managers in world football who will only ever operate under his own methods and never give so much as a nod to anything which deviates from those routines.

On Wednesday evening he comes up against a man every inch as obdurate - Arsene Wenger.

Though in general it is difficult to argue with Wenger’s record. Except for the past few seasons or so it stands against any of his peers but some questions are more than justified. The Frenchman's principles and some of the football his teams have produced since he joined Arsenal cannot be faulted.

However, a problem certainly lies in his stubbornness and refusal to think about compromise - not to mention a player policy only slightly more compassionate than the Deep Sleep Operatives from Logan’s Run.

Despite having a large war chest available he prefers not to use it even though his side cries out for real depth. Over a couple of transfer windows he kept the bankers happy and left his funds in place rather than invest while his side.

There were huge implications in the 2007-08 campaign when he had a five point lead at the Premier League’s summit. Reliance on a very small core squad when a team is about to enter one of the demanding parts of any season is a huge gamble.

There may not be so many games crammed into Christmas and New Year as once was the case. With under soil heating present across the majority of grounds pitches are rarely hard but at a time when the weather is at its coldest and the demands of mid-season greatest injuries are inevitable - especially when a side is active on nearly all fronts - well over a decade's experience in English football should have taught that lesson.

A season which promised so much for the Gunners was in effect laid bare on one single afternoon when Eduardo suffered an horrific leg break and when leading 2-1 Gael Clichy conceded a last minute penalty which gifted Birmingham a point but deprived Arsenal of not only two but their momentum - no small measure of impetus went courtesy of William Gallas’ post-match histrionics and a sit in protest not seen since the heydays of Neville Southall.

Wenger's unjustified comments regarding the tackle on the Croatian international certainly suggested he knew what his team had probably lost.

If his transfer activity in the summer just gone is anything to go by it seems that he will either not heed or denies the errors of last winter.

Arsenal who have been defeated by both likely suspects and unlikely candidates so far this term and last when they threw some very commanding leads away.  Their struggles in many respects courtesy of that absolute rejection to invest.

A goalkeeper better than Manuel Almunia should have been brought in some time ago Soo too players who can not only dictate the pace of a game but control it. That weakness has been laid particularly bare over the past two weekends.

So too a willingness to make tackles - something no Liverpool player was hesitant to do against Everton and a similar battling performance will most probably reap its own rewards at Ashburton Grove on Wednesday. As stopping Arsenal playing their football has yet to receive any answer other than the Gunners to attempt more of the same.

Once they are caught up the pitch a weakness can be exploited. Starving them of the ball as another key for as good as they are with it Arsenal can often be apalling without it at their feet failing to track runs, anticipate movement and close people down.

That’s not to say Wenger does not have any form of tactical nouse nor player recruitment and retention policy - but it is one which will only bear long term dividends and possibly sustained success depending on factors should all those youngsters stay or just as importantly realise their promise.

In the meantime the entire project is threatened by events in the present and short term.

The football may be pretty but it seems the dressing room is anything but. Not only that where players suffering from a dip in form or confidence look around the Liverpool squad and see Steven Gerrard as their leader Arsenal have until recent times had William Gallas - a tantrum waiting to happen contrasted with the Reds’ beating heart and thankfully a player who is beginning to find his form again in recent games.

Gerrard's opposite number Cesc Febregas should be appreciated for the world class talent he is while still in his early 20s.

Beyond their skipper any player at Anfield, fitness allowing, sees Jamie Carragher, Javier Mascherano, Pepe Reina and Fernando Torres amongst others around them.

Many of those players have won the Champions League plus some of the game’s other highest honours and with not just clubs but their countries.

More than a couple have also skippered their respective nations and can be relied upon for advice by anyone struggling - those under similar crisis at Ashburton Grove are surrounded by peers at a similar stage and predicament to themselves. Some had their issues not to mention the contents of their stomachs and hearts laid bare before a worldwide press when Gallas decided to discuss his teammates with journalists from his own country.

Another consequence felt particularly hard by the Gunners is the absence of grit in midfield. Mathieu Flamini was moulded into a player as comfortable at scrapping as silky movement but was not only allowed to leave but to do so for nothing with his deal down to zero even when the player had given considerable notice that he may well exploit the rules to walk away for nothing through passage of team or if necessary buying out his contract.

The player offered an interview to a French football magazine on the specific basis they would ensure syndication in Italy, Germany as well as Spain and barely made a secret of his ultimate intentions.

Rafa Benitez has made errors in the market but moved them on quickly. Many of those who have expressed a desire to depart - whatever their reason - even with little on their contracts have been moved on for profit.

In truth while Liverpool could do with some of Arsenal’s attacking zing by contrast the Gunners who have succumb to very similar goals against Manchester United and Chelsea would benefit from some of the Reds’ recent returned strength down the spine. Without it Arsenal will remain justifably unfancied to end a five season trophy drought.

While Wenger’s contemporaries - Benitez included - have proved they can adopt a more pragmatic approach than the Arsenal boss regardless of form going into a game he does seem to hold a tendency to get things right against the other top sides. Despite a modest build ups to hosting Manchester United, Everton and others Liverpool have come out of these encounters on top and not for the first time.

In contrast to last season when they led the 'Big Four mini-league' Arsenal and Liverpool are fairing less well with just three points apiece.

Three more for either will not suggest Liverpool or Arsenal are anything other than contenders for the minor Champions League placings. In the former case it would serve as something of a grab on the coattails but a first win at the Gunners’ new home would be a crucial boost for the Reds - no doubt Arsene knows that.