WHY SAY ANYTHING?

Today, Saturday, saw a relatively quiet day for the top six in the Premier League, with only Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool in action.

Spurs were at “home” to Huddersfield Town whilst, in the late game Liverpool took on Newcastle United at Anfield in a fixture which saw the return of Rafa Benitez to the club where he experienced his greatest success.

The first game saw a reasonably easy victory for Spurs although they originally struggled to find the net and only led 1-0 at half-time. The second half followed a similar pattern and Son managed to get his, and Spurs’ second goal to wrap up a fairly routine win.

Liverpool managers past and present. One successful, one hoping to be!

In the meeting between Jürgen Klopp and Rafa Benitez in Liverpool it was the German who, as expected, emerged victorious. A hard fought first half was edged by Liverpool who went in 1-0 up thanks to Mo Salah’s 32nd goal of the season.

The second half saw Sadio Mané add to the home side’s tally and in truth, Newcastle appeared to be doing their best to keep the score down rather than to get a result.

Despite this rearguard action from the visitors Liverpool were not good enough to score more than two but they collected the three points which take them back into second place until Monday night.

Sunday’s early-ish game is the clash which brings Stubborn Old Man’s next defeat when the Arsenal manager takes his team down to the south coast to play Brighton and, later in the day, Antonio Conte gets to experience his second defeat of the week in Manchester when he goes to The Etihad with Chelsea.

This weekend we even manage to stretch into Monday night when Manchester United must overcome London opposition again at Sehurst Park when they take on Mr Roy’s Crystal Palace.

That will be the last in a run of five games where the two Manchester clubs have had to play teams from London. It’s just as well that they are both better than the London clubs and the score, as we write after three meetings is: Manchester 3 London 0, an overwhelming display of superiority which is likely to have been extended to 5-0 by Tuesday morning.

So what is the difference between the top teams from the two cities this season?

Well, Chelsea haven’t come to terms with playing Champion’s League football again and didn’t strengthen their squad sufficiently, so the answer to their struggles is an easy one. Antonio Conte did warn of what would happen without sufficient new arrivals but was not heeded, so he can’t be held totally responsible for the downturn in form and fortune.

Arséne Wenger – No longer just a part of the Arsenal problem, he now IS Arsenal’s problem

Arsenal still have the same manager, who should have been pensioned off at the end of last season rather than given a new two year’s contract. They have brought some new players in but, as of yet, they are making no difference. Arsenal will regress as long as Arséne Wenger remains in charge.

Tottenham Hotspur do not pay top rates and, consequently, do not attract the top players. They signed Lucas Moura, who may very well turn out to be a shrewd piece of business but, if he does succeed at Spurs, he may well question the pay structure at some point, as some have already done.

Mauricio Pochettino is expected to continue to maintain a top four challenge despite the presence of Daniel Levy, not because of it, and he does very well to keep Spurs where they are.

Away from Manchester and London for a moment and Liverpool appear to be the closest to challenging City and United and, in fact, are probably United’s closest competitors for second place this season. The defence still seems to be a little short and, for the thousandth time, they need a world-class goalkeeper!

As for Manchester City and Manchester United, well, their success is to be expected although José Mourinho will want his team to be a lot closer to City next season.

In short, the two Manchester clubs have the best managers, the most money and, in the main, the best players and as long as that remains the case they could be in a position to dominate English football for years to come.