Arsenal v United used to be game of the season... now it’s a pub match

Fowler’s brilliant column:

GARY NEVILLE has got it wrong... the Dog and Duck v the Red Lion isn’t Liverpool against United, it’s today’s game at the Emirates.

In fact, I reckon I may have to watch a Sunday pub game instead to get my fix of real football, because at least there will be a decent pint at stake.

There is virtually nothing riding on this game, and it is a sad sign of just how far both Arsenal and Manchester United have slipped. It used to be the game of the season, it used to be the Premier League fixture that had people talking for weeks beforehand.

It used to guarantee controversy and incident too. I still remember Ruud van Nistelrooy’s face after he missed that penalty and Martin Keown did his impression of Count Dracula.

I’m almost reluctant to say this, as a former Liverpool player, but I felt for Ruud that day.

As a member of the striker’s union, I felt genuinely sorry for him.

You never want to see anyone suffer like that. The misery of missing a penalty in a high-profile fixture is agony – I did it at Goodison and I got slaughtered by their fans.

And I didn’t even have the Count swooping down on me to draw blood!

I think we gave Martin some serious stick for that, the next time Liverpool’s England lads met him.

He is a good lad, so he would have taken it in good humour. Either that, or he tried to kick me and missed, just like all the times I played against him.

Just like Liverpool and United in the 70s and 80s, this was the biggest game of the season by miles. Now, it’s just car-crash TV – people tuning in to see who suffers more. I think of the teams United had – Keane, Scholes, Gary Neville. They would have gone there, thinking it was to win the title.

Now, the current crop are hoping not to go there at all, so they can rest before the Europa League semi.

It’s even worse for Arsenal. I reckon there was not a fan in the country who would put them outside the top four at the start of the season. Now, they need a bit of a miracle to make it. It’s a sad, horrible state of affair for Arsene Wenger and he doesn’t deserve it.

I genuinely feel it is a bit sad he’s clinging on like this, maybe losing a tiny bit of his dignity with every bad result and every chant of “Wenger out”.

My hope is he goes on to win the FA Cup and shocks a few people by saying he is going out on a high.

I would like to say I am passionate about him winning today, too – but like most the rest of the country I don’t really give a monkey’s.

And when you consider how much cash they have spent, how high they have flown, how big the clubs are, that is a terrible indictment of where they are now.

Yes, no doubt, Jose Mourinho will say he’s had a successful season.

One cup, a foot in another final, and a great chance of making the Champions League.

But come on, this is Arsenal-man U. Keane-vieira, Pizzagate. The Count. The title showdown. It’s such a shame for both clubs – and they will need serious surgery to address it.