4 Truths: Arsenal’s awful win; Moyes and LVG > Mourinho

Deep in the bowels of the Emirates Stadium, you can wager staff are making hasty arrangements for an unscheduled press conference. Finally, Arsenal have a Premier League victory over a big rival – the perfect platform to release the ‘two more years of Wenger’ memo.

Had they succumbed to Manchester United, that newsflash could have been forgotten. Draw or defeat would have left the Gunners out of the top four picture, with not even another FA Cup triumph capable of sparing Wenger from a fan backlash. But now? The Frenchman’s odds-on to stay, while the ‘Wenger Out’ brigade are losing their impact. It might just be this victory saves the Frenchman's job; it might just prove Arsenal’s worst win ever.

For all the bleating about injuries and referees, Manchester United have tragically underperformed in 2016-17. They are staring down sixth spot in the Premier League, with all their hopes now lumped on the Europa League. Jose Mourinho’s negative approach – targeting tight victories, and often ending up with draws, over free-flowing football – has left his side in a horrible predicament.

They might be tantalisingly close to the Europa League final, but likely opponents Ajax will enter that showdown in Stockholm without a whiff of pressure. Is it a given that United will roll over their opponents, given their stuttering displays? Not a chance.

United might have played marginally better football than the previous three seasons, plus they’ve won the League Cup, but the fact they have the most expensively assembled side in history can’t be overlooked. Mourinho has swerved the abuse of his predecessors for much of the campaign, but make no mistake... he is one defeat away from surpassing the misery of David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.

Southampton are a solid side – as shown by the fact they have not lost to Liverpool this season, in two league draws and two League Cup wins while not conceding – but if the Reds want to be serious title challengers in the near future, they must learn to break down teams with a blanket defence.

Anfield is no longer a tough place to play like it was at the start of the campaign. Sides with limited attempts to win a match can come and thwart Jurgen Klopp’s men relatively easily by depriving the attacking trident – which on Sunday was Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho and Divock Origi – of space.

So now, with Arsenal potentially just a point behind them if they win both games in hand, Liverpool will entertain Middlesbrough, who will have at the very least pride to play for, at Anfield on the final day of the season.

And for them – strangely for a side in the relegation places – defending has been a relative strong point. They have conceded fewer goals than any side in the bottom half (45), and only one more than, you guessed it, Southampton. So, unless Klopp’s men figure out a Plan B, their Champions League ambitions could go up in smoke.

You have to feel sorry for James Milner. He’s been shunted to the left side of a fairly wobbly defence under Jurgen Klopp and has now missed his first penalty for nearly eight years.

And much of that was down to mind games from Fraser Forster, the 6ft 7in keeper, who, while referee Bobby Madley was booking Cedric, towered over his 31-year-old opponent close to the penalty spot in an attempt to put him off. He clearly succeeded as Milner’s effort was far from his best and potentially cost Liverpool the game.

Yet it’s hard enough for penalty takers these days, with goalkeepers bounding around their line as they take the kick or jumping forwards to narrow the angle. Combine this with huge delays that often come as referees sort out any melee that results from the penalty decision, plus a baying crowd, and it’s a pretty tough task, no matter how much players practice these days.

So it’s about time these giant pieces of gamesmanship were given short shrift...