Battle of the Bosses: Arsene Wenger finally out-tacticks a rival!

For the first time in his managerial career Pep Guardiola will finish a season without a trophy. Manchester City fans held aloft a banner on Sunday that proclaimed them the best team “in all the world,” but it was particularly difficult to make that point after their FA Cup semi-final defeat to Arsenal.

Consider that in the past couple months Arsene Wenger (or Arsene Wenger Out as he is now more commonly known) had been out-tacticked by Steve Agnew, Sam Allardyce and Tony Pulis, it seemed unlikely that Guardiola - the Will Hunting of European football - would fail to get the better of a man who now counts a protest troop among his entourage.

And yet Wenger came out on top as the Gunners came from behind to beat City in extra time. Guardiola failed to stem the flow of the match in the season half, calling his tactical credentials into question. Not since Sir Fred Goodwin was a thing has a man been called a fraud so often.

“If we beat Celta Vigo, we go to the final and, yes, it is important to us to play Champions League, but this club wants trophies,” Jose Mourinho replied when asked whether he would now prioritise the Europa League over Manchester United’s efforts to finish in the top four.

“We cannot give the club the Premier League. We have a 25 per cent chance to win the Europa League. I will rotate players again to give some players a chance again. In terms of expectation, it is better to go into a derby with one point difference rather than four.” Manchester United might be a club that wins trophies, as Mourinho says, but they are also a club that doesn’t finish outside the top four.

Antonio Conte could have started both Diego Costa and Eden Hazard against Spurs on Saturday, but that would have been too obvious. That would have been what Mauricio Pochettino was expecting.

Instead, the Italian only introduced the pair just after the hour mark with the scoreline locked at 2-2. By full time, though, they had made the difference as Chelsea ran out 4-2 winners. Conte’s mind games worked, with Spurs left to reflect on yet another defeat at Wembley. Bet they can’t wait to play all their home games there next season.

On his way home from Wembley on Saturday, Conte must have felt like swinging by the Premier League’s head office to air his grievances. “In this situation it is not easy to understand," he complained after the win over Spurs, pointing out how his Chelsea team has to play again on Tuesday night.

“You have to play one day less against Southampton that rests for 10 days. Instead, Tottenham has to play on Wednesday - one day more to rest against Crystal Palace that didn't play today, they have to play tomorrow.” Leaving out key players for big matches, complaining about the fixture schedule - it appears Conte learned rather a lot from Mourinho last weekend.

Liverpool had it all in their own hands. With just five games left to play, Jurgen Klopp’s side were in course for a top four finish. Then Sam Allardyce came in like a wrecking ball, leaving the Reds’ hopes of Champions League qualification in pieces.

Of course, there is still time for Klopp to put them back together, with Liverpool boasting the most comfortable run-in of all the clubs competing for the top four, but Sunday’s result was about more than just the loss of three points. It underlined the progress Liverpool still have to make under Klopp.

In recent weeks narrow victories over Stoke City and West Brom hinted that the Reds had finally conquered their deficiency against teams of the Premier League’s lower echelon. The home defeat to Palace, though, ended that assumption. As the chant goes - same old Liverpool, always dropping points to teams they should be comfortably beating.

Wenger has his way out. The FA Cup final on May 27 is the final game of the English domestic season and Arsenal will be there to face Chelsea. If the Frenchman was looking for a way to end on a high note, putting behind him all that has tainted this season, he has been granted the opportunity for it.

Of course, rather than viewing the FA Cup final as the chance to disappear into the sunset graciously Wenger will probably see it as proof that this season hasn’t been so bad after all, putting pen to paper on a new four year deal. Never change, Arsene.