Hull’s Harry Maguire is dreaming of England, Spurs are better placed than ever to best Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal and Aitor Karanka continues to divide opinion
In a cartoon history of Arsenal’s ongoing run of springtime top-four escapology acts – the battle, above all, to stay ahead of Spurs – Arsène Wenger would probably be depicted right now wriggling furiously inside a sealed lead trunk, still rattling his padlocks but descending towards the seabed. Tottenham are six points ahead of Arsenal with 11 games to play, to Arsenal’s 12. Tighter spots have been negotiated. But as Spurs beat Everton to take their half of the weekend’s London-Merseyside derby exchange it was hard to avoid the feeling that 22 years down the line the quest to finish ahead of Wenger-era Arsenal has its best chance yet of success. Tottenham have a better goalkeeper, better defence, better midfield, better gameplan, a greater sense of cohesion generally. All that is missing is that final wrench of the neck muscles. Arsenal go to White Hart Lane in April. Barring a genuine reverse of the prevailing tide, it could be a fairly traumatic experience. Barney Ronay
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