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Arsenal vs Liverpool is one of the most hotly-anticipated fixtures on the English football calendar. While the title race has proved beyond both clubs during the second portion of the Premier League era, their meetings always provide excitement and drama as two sides famed for their offensive enthusiasm and attacking flair go toe-to-toe in what often descends into a straight-up shootout.

With Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klopp at the helm it looks to be a similar case when they meet again on Friday night, and separated by just one point in the table, the coming encounter could have a huge say on which side qualifies for the Champions League come the end of May. So, can history tell us anything about how Friday’s 7.45pm kickoff will pan out? Football FanCast takes a look…

Head-to-Head

Since the inception of the Premier League, this fixture has been incredibly closely fought overall, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The stats say that no side has had the upper hand in this fixture, but from March 1994 to August 2000, Arsenal failed to beat Liverpool in 14 attempts in all competitions, 12 in the Premier League and two in the League Cup. Since then, the tables have been turned and it’s Arsenal who have been the dominant side – until last season.

In 2016/17, Liverpool did the double over Arsenal for the first time since the 1999/00 season while the reverse fixture earlier this term ended in a thumping 4-0 home victory at Anfield.

Top Scorer

Top scorers in Liverpool v Arsenal fixtures in the Premier League tell the same story of Merseyside dominance in the 90s and north London dominance in the 00s. Robbie Fowler is the top marksman in this fixture in the Premier League with nine goals, whilst Thierry Henry is just behind him with eight.

But that just shows the quality of this fixture – both sides’ top scorers against the other is a bona fide Premier League legend, though an honourable mention has to go to Andriy Arshavin who famously scored four goals in one game against the Reds, which brings us onto…

The Unforgettable Match

That one game is the unforgettable epic that was the 4-4 draw at Anfield in April 2009. That year was without doubt Liverpool’s best chance to win the Premier League until the 2013/14 season when Steven Gerrard’s memorable slip against Chelsea saw Manchester City pip the Reds to the post.

The draw with Arsenal at Anfield was a classic for the ages, where the lead changed hands plenty of times on a tumultuous afternoon.

A 90th minute Andriy Arshavin goal – his fourth and final goal of the game – looked to have won it for Arsenal and gifted the title to Manchester United, but Yossi Benayoun, who would later go on to play for the Gunners, popped up with a late equaliser.

It wouldn’t have mattered in the title race anyway. The draw was Liverpool’s only dropped points since February, but so consistent were United that they still won the league by four points. The extra two for beating Arsenal may have put added pressure on Alex Ferguson’s side, but we’ll never know if they would have cracked.

The Shared Hero – Kolo Toure

Outside of the Premier League era, figures like Ray Kennedy – who played over 200 times for Arsenal and nearly 400 times for Liverpool- and Michael Thomas – who famously scored a last-minute goal at Anfield to win the title for Arsenal – inevitably come to mind.

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But in the Premier League era, Kolo Toure stands out as a player who played for arguably the defining sides of both clubs recent history. For Arsenal, that’s an obvious one, as Toure played in the Invincibles side of 2003/04. But for Liverpool, perhaps it’s more debatable. He made 24 appearances for the Reds, including 20 in the top flight, as Brendan Rodgers’ side came close to lifting the Premier League crown in 2013/14.

What perhaps makes Toure such a shared hero, however, is how popular a figure he’s become in football. He’s earned cult status and even a drinking game based around his name and even when not at the full extremities of his powers, has always seemed to find a way to connect with the fans.

As reported by Irish Sunday World journalist Kevin Palmer, Liverpool are on the brink of securing a £70m move for Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk in the January transfer window.

Securing the defender’s signature would end the saga surrounding Liverpool’s long-term interest in the player and perhaps go a long way to fixing a defence that has shipped far too many goals in the English Premier League this season.

Van Dijk hasn’t quite hit the heights he is capable of this term, but is still a quality option and coming into his prime at 26 years of age, would be a significant acquisition for any of England’s top clubs.

Supporters generally seem excited by the prospect of signing him in January, many believing he is exactly what they need to sort out Jurgen Klopp’s defence.

However, there are some dissenting voices with some feeling the potential fee would be far too large and others worried about his form this season so far.

Fans took to Twitter to discuss it all…

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West Ham United manager David Moyes has named his team to face Bournemouth at the London Stadium on Saturday, and Irons fans believe that forward Andre Ayew could be on his way after he missed out on a place in the squad.

The Ghana international has been a substitute in the east London outfit’s last two Premier League matches and started against Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup in midweek, but he didn’t make the 18 for the clash against the Cherries.

However, the 28-year-old, who has been linked with a return to former club Swansea City, has scored six goals and provided a further two assists in 24 appearances in all competitions for the Hammers this season.

West Ham supporters were quick to have their say on the attacker’s omission via social media, and while one said “Ayew surely gone now”, another said “hopefully he’s off”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

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The dust is starting to settle on perhaps the most accusative parting statement a Premier League club has ever produced; Watford implying Everton’s pursuit of Marco Silva eventually forced them to sack the Portuguese.

There are two sides to every story and it will be interesting to hear Silva’s after insinuations that his over-ambition saw standards slip at Vicarage Road, but if it’s true that a manager revered as the most promising in the Premier League when he left Hull City had his head turned after just 26 games in charge, the Pozzo family only really have themselves to blame.

After all, while the Pozzos’ returns on the pitch are difficult to argue with – solidifying Watford as a midtable force in the Premier League and overseeing their most consecutive campaigns in the top flight since the 1980s – they have turned the Hornets into something of a faceless stepping stone, lacking any real incentive to remain loyal excepting the weekly pay cheques.

That may seem a harsh evaluation of a club with its own proven model for success, but it’s hard to ignore facts; Watford haven’t played a single academy product in the Premier League this season while last summer saw 22 players either join or leave the club in the space of a single transfer window. There’s no identity, no continuity, no link to Watford’s history or between the players and the fans.

There are of course a few exceptions to the rule – the likes of Troy Deeney – but on the whole, Watford are less a football club and more a corporation that hires and fires employees with a particularly quick turnaround.

And that only rings truer with the managers. Javi Gracia is now the eighth manager to work under the Pozzos in five-and-a-half years, and none of those have lasted longer than Gianfranco Zola who oversaw just 66 games. Even the manager who took the Hornets to the Premier League, Slavisa Jokanovic, failed to earn a new contract with promotion and was replaced by Quique Sanchez Flores. He too would last just one year in the job, despite guiding Watford to a comfortably safe finish upon their return to the top flight.

Not that how Watford have treated previous managers justifies Silva losing focus because he was declined the chance to join Everton, if that was indeed the case. But it’s more a question of what culture that approach has created in Hertfordshire; one where the players, the coaches and the managers all know they won’t be there very long. It’s a constant revolving door, a stop-gap club that either brings about better personal opportunities or quickly moves you on if you fail to fulfil your purpose.

Even if you do, there’s a good chance you’ll be leaving anyway. Eventually, that reduces what should be the incredibly holistic experience of playing for a football club, especially one as family-oriented as Watford, to little more than a job to pay the bills. The shirt stops representing community, club and passion and becomes football’s equivalent of a McDonald’s uniform.

That has been evident during Watford’s every Premier League campaign thus far under the Pozzos; once the initial bounce of new players and a new manager begins to fade away and the target of Premier League survival comes within grabbing distance, performances and results quickly turn sour. Tellingly, Watford suffered 23 of their 37 Premier League defeats over the last two seasons after the turn of the year.

Silva’s apparent hopes of leaving Watford for Everton in November, despite joining the club just a matter of months prior, is a symptomatic reaction to that culture. Why shouldn’t he look to join a club offering a better salary, a greater challenge and bigger transfer budgets when his current employers have discarded their managers indiscriminate of success or failure? Why should there be any loyalty on Silva’s part to a club that churns through managers and players at will? Why did he owe it to Watford to rebuff the Toffees’ interest and stay at Vicarage Road? If anything, the quick management turnaround while pocketing Watford £8.5million seemed to fit perfectly into the club’s ruthless model.

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Perhaps that’s why Watford eventually took such a tough line with Silva; in addition to leaving the Hornets just four points above the relegation zone after a blistering start and amid a run of eight defeats in eleven games, they needed to do something to stop the idea of the club being little more than a stepping stone, an intermission in the careers of players and coaches. Sacking Silva did, at the very least, give them some sense of control of the situation.

And yet, it remains a case of being treated by others how you treat them. As long as Watford remain a revolving door, ambitious managers like Silva will always feel justified in walking out either side of it. For all the success the Pozzos have brought to Vicarage Road, they’ve also made Watford something of an empty vessel. Managers and players fill it for a time, but never long enough to become truly connected with the club.

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According to reports in The Mirror, Manchester United defender Luke Shaw is set to sign a new long-term contract at Old Trafford before the end of the season after winning manager Jose Mourinho over.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the 22-year-old has struggled to make an impression under Mourinho since he took charge in the summer of 2016, with the Portuguese boss criticising the left-back on more than one occasion last season.

Shaw found himself well down the pecking order at the beginning of the current campaign too, but he has improved his fitness and worked his way back into the first team, becoming a regular in 2018 so far.

The Mirror says that his recent performances have impressed Mourinho, and even though the player still has 18 months left on his £80,000-a-week contract after the club exercised an option to extend his current deal by a further year, the Red Devils now want to tie him down for even longer on improved terms.

How has Shaw done this season?

The former Southampton man’s contract was due to run out this summer before United activated the option to extend it by another year, and with the 22-year-old finding himself behind Ashley Young, Daley Blind and Matteo Darmian in the left-back pecking order at the start of the campaign it seemed as though he would be on his way out.

The England international remained patient though and he was finally handed his first Premier League start of the season in the 1-0 win against Bournemouth at Old Trafford in December – a game in which he picked up the man of the match award.

Shaw has started five of United’s seven fixtures in 2018, and he is beginning to get back to his best by making a positive impact at both ends of the pitch.

Would it be good news for United?

It certainly would be.

While Shaw may not have always been flavour of the month with Mourinho, it is clear that once he gets back to his best following a number of injury problems he can be their first-choice left-back or left wing-back for many years to come.

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The 22-year-old is quick, good defensively and offensively, and still has plenty of time left in his career to improve and get even better.

To celebrate 25 years of the Premier League each week in Football Fancast we’re going to be looking back at a memorable game that took place on the corresponding date. This time out we revisit a ferocious correction of a dire run against top flight giants.

Everton’s league record against Manchester United throughout the Noughties was pretty dire, managing just one win from 19. Time and again Sir Alex Ferguson’s men would saunter away from Goodison Park with all of the points and for a club that prided itself on rising to the big occasions – a club too that had finished inside the top six all but once in the last five years – that frankly wasn’t acceptable. Something had to change.

Maybe it was the turning of the calendar that spurred on the Toffees on February 20th 2010 – a new decade signifying a less respectful approach to the 11-time Premier League champions – and perhaps too their recent impressive victory over Chelsea was a motivating factor instilling in them an emboldening belief. Whatever the root causes the illustrious visitors certainly weren’t allowed to saunter on this occasion. Not for a second. David Moyes’ side ripped into them from the off, sparking the fiery environs of Goodison into life, and resulting in a memorable encounter that is still talked about on one side of Stanley Park to this day.

In truth there were other factors that contributed to this famous 3-1 win that Everton can take no credit for. Four days earlier the Reds had travelled to Milan in the Champions League and emerged with a precious first leg advantage that came at a cost. With his star players fatigued Ferguson reluctantly rang the changes and gambled on a back two of Brown and Evans that always had a mistake in them along with Fletcher and Park stationed centrally. It helped too from an Everton perspective that Wayne Rooney was returning to his old stomping ground and past experiences had shown that he would rarely rise to his devastating best when saddled with the emotion of the day. True to form Rooney was all but anonymous throughout.

Furthermore this was hardly a vintage United. The previous summer they had embarked on a recruitment drive that supporters still claim now is the starting point of their gradual decline as the club eschewed the option of reinvesting their £80m bonanza for Ronaldo and shopped in the bargain bins instead for Gabriel Obertan and Mame Biram Diouf. There would be immediate punishment for their frugal outlay as United finished second that year to Chelsea and solely won the League Cup in an era when silverware was commonplace.

Yet that should take precisely nothing away from Everton who delivered a long overdue victory here with unremitting relish and even refused to let a 16th minute opener from Dimitar Berbatov knock them from their stride.

Before we get to that however the Bulgarian’s strike is worth lingering on. Loitering inside the box and surrounded by a sea of Blue the ball is fired across at great pace and any forward with limitations would instinctively throw a boot out and hope for the best. Not Berbatov who instead cushions it first with artistic aplomb. The finish is ordinary; the control that precipitates it is exceptional.

It took Everton just three minutes to draw level and most encouragingly of all for the majority of the 39,000 in attendance it came courtesy of their summer signing Diniyar ‘Billy’ Bilyaletdinov. With United’s rejigged defence in disarray the Russian winger cleverly used Johnny Evans as a blocker and fired the ball past an unsighted Van der Saar to prompt mayhem on the terraces. United were there for the taking and everybody knew it.

Yet 1-1 it remained for the next hour, an hour where Everton were dominant for the large part and Leon Osman appeared to have cloned himself into three players given how much grass he covered. There is no question that this was the veteran’s finest performance in a blue jersey.

With a quarter of the contest left Ferguson brought on Scholes in order to stiffen up his midfield and close the game out but even a reversion to a 4-5-1 couldn’t contain the swarm that increasingly sensed an upset. Substitute Dan Gosling redirected a stray ball goalwards to put Everton in front and late on, with United chasing and stretched, another sub picked up a loose pass from deep and ran directly at a back-peddling Wes Brown. Jack Rodwell’s composed finish was beyond his teenage years and hinted heavily at a searingly bright future in the game. In retrospect there is no pleasure taken in deeming this his career highpoint.

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“I keep being told we don’t beat the big boys often enough and we don’t,” a bellicose Moyes said on the final whistle. For 90 minutes, in February 2010, Everton briefly put that notion firmly in its place.

What happened next?

For both teams a mediocre season ultimately played out. United ran Chelsea close but seven defeats over the course of the campaign was always going to be damaging while Everton solidified their establishment as a top ten club by finishing eighth. Jack Rodwell was named the club’s Young Player of the Year.

It’s fair to say that even though Everton found themselves in a difficult situation in November with caretaker boss David Unsworth struggling after Ronald Koeman had been sacked the previous month, there weren’t too many Toffees supporters that would have been keen on the idea of Sam Allardyce taking charge.

The Merseyside outfit looked to be in serious danger of suffering relegation from the Premier League for the first time since the inauguration of the division in 1992, and the 63-year-old is renowned with never suffering demotion to the Championship despite managing the likes of Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United and Newcastle United during his career.

Unfortunately for the former England boss, he is also regularly tarnished with the brush of playing unattractive, long ball football, and that is something that would have influenced Everton fans when it was announced that Allardyce was going to take the reins just prior to their clash against fellow strugglers West Ham United at Goodison Park on November 29.

The Toffees came into the clash on the back of a successive 5-1 and 4-1 defeats against Atalanta and Southampton, and they were lying just two points above the relegation zone and with just 12 points from their 13 top flight fixtures.

They also had the second worst goal difference in the division of minus 15 at the time and Allardyce would have been tasked with not only turning results around, but also to stop the side leaking goals.

Unsworth oversaw a brilliant 4-0 success against the Irons, before the 63-year-old took the helm for the first time when they hosted Huddersfield Town just three days later.

A 2-0 victory against the Terriers certainly got him off to a positive start, and he quickly tightened up the defence and started getting the points on the board that the Merseyside outfit desperately needed.

Allardyce and Everton took 12 points from his first six Premier League matches in charge, and it was needed to keep the Goodison Park faithful on side.

However, things started to go sour – and the Toffees fans certainly didn’t need any excuse to turn on the 63-year-old – at the end of 2017 when they were beaten 2-1 by Bournemouth.

Three successive defeats followed – including a 4-0 loss against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley – and Allardyce suggested that they needed to be “more boring” after the huge reverse in the capital.

That remark outraged Everton fans given that their side had only had one shot on target in their opening three games of 2018, and while they took seven points from their next three home games they were also beaten 5-1 by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

They currently lie in ninth position and eight points above the relegation zone, but it would be hard to argue that the Merseyside outfit have made significant progress under Allardyce in overall terms.

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The January addition of Cenk Tosun hasn’t paid off so far with the player struggling with the pace of the Premier League and the English weather, he failed to sign a left-back when it looked as though it should have been their January priority, while Ademola Lookman left on loan after struggling to get first-team starts and summer arrival Davy Klaassen has failed to get a look in.

That said, Everton are just two points adrift of seventh-place Burnley and if results go their way in the final 11 top flight fixtures of the campaign, they remain on course to secure the position as the best of the rest outside of the top six clubs.

If Allardyce does that it would certainly be an impressive achievement given the disastrous start the club made to the season, and the 63-year-old would deserve a full summer to sign his own players and work with the team during pre-season in preparation of making an ambitious tilt for the top six positions next term.

It would be a controversial choice for the supporters, but Allardyce must get the opportunity to try and take the club forward if he leads Everton to the highest possible finish it looks as though they can secure in remaining 11 fixtures – seventh.

Tottenham Hotspur play host to Rochdale in the two clubs’ FA Cup fifth round replay at Wembley on Wednesday night following their 2-2 draw earlier at Spotland earlier this month, and Spurs fans have begged manager Mauricio Pochettino not to start striker Fernando Llorente, rated at £7.2m by Transfermarkt, up top.

The north London outfit signed the centre-forward, who celebrated his 33rd birthday earlier this week, from Swansea City during the summer following an impressive debut campaign in the Premier League, but he has struggled playing back-up to Harry Kane.

The Spaniard has scored just two goals in 26 appearances in all competitions for Pochettino’s men and he has none in four outings in the FA Cup this term, despite starting all of their fixtures against lower league opposition in AFC Wimbledon, Newport County and Rochdale.

Tottenham supporters have been quick to have their say on Llorente ahead of the clash in the capital on Wednesday, and while one said “Llorente can’t start another match”, another said “I can start and play better than Llorente”.

Here is just a selection of the Twitter reaction…

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Former West Ham United coach Nikola Jurcevic has told Croatian publication Sportske Novosti that Everton attacker Nikola Vlasic is likely going to leave the club this summer on loan.

What’s the word?

The 20-year-old moved to Goodison Park in the summer from Hajduk Split, signing a five-year deal, but he has struggled for game time.

Despite the fact that the Toffees have been struggling for the majority of the season to find the back of the net, Vlasic has barely had a look-in.

In total, the Croatian has started just nine games in all competitions, making 16 altogether.

According to Jurcevic, the youngster could be set for a loan deal for next season.

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The ex-West Ham coach told Sportske Novosti:

“It’s damaging for a young player and he needs his games to develop. And Allardyce has brought two other players this winter and it certainly doesn’t go in favour of our young player. If Vlasic’s status is not upwards before the summer, he will probably send him somewhere on loan.”

Is this the best option?

Vlasic is still a young player and has the potential to come into the team on a more regular basis in future years.

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However, the attacker is unlikely to break into Sam Allardyce’s current side, with Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun ahead of him in the pecking order.

Even though some of the Everton fans have been keen for Vlasic to be given more minutes on the pitch, a loan move could be the best option.

According to reports in the Daily Star, West Ham United loanee Joao Mario, who is earning around £137,500-a-week according to Football Italia, via Claret and Hugh, has hinted that he is ready to join the east London outfit on a permanent deal this summer.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the Irons signed the Portugal international from Serie A giants Inter Milan on a temporary basis until the end of the season during the January transfer window, which was seen as a big coup considering he won Euro 2016 with his country just 18 months previously and cost the Italian club £35m later that same summer.

Now the Daily Star has reported quotes from the midfielder that suggest that he is enjoying life in the English capital and would be open to extending his stay with the Hammers, who are still in real danger of suffering relegation to the Championship ahead of their potentially season-defining fixtures at home to fellow strugglers Southampton on March 31.

What has Joao Mario said?

According to the Daily Star, the 25-year-old said: “I’m in a new league and I’m trying to adapt quickly. I’m happy with my new adventure and I hope to finish the season well.

“Inter are part of my past now. I could have played more, but football is about that too. Now I’m happy and that’s what matters most.”

How has he fared at West Ham?

He has done well considering he is getting used to a new league.

While he certainly hasn’t been an outstanding performer, he has certainly added some quality to the east London outfit both in the middle of the park and from a slightly more attacking point of view in his six appearances for them to date.

The Portugal international was dropped to the substitutes’ bench for the trip to Swansea City following the 4-1 loss against Liverpool at Anfield, and he faces plenty of competition for his place in the side despite his stature with Marko Arnautovic, Manuel Lanzini, Michail Antonio and Javier Hernandez among those that will feel they should also be starting every game.

Should they sign him permanently?

Of course, much will depend on which division they find themselves in next season, and the fans are split on whether they should sign him permanently or not.

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If they survive and can obtain the midfielder for a reasonable fee then they absolutely must get him, but if Inter are going to demand too much for his services they should look elsewhere for a player that may be more influential for them for a significant price.