I will admit that I had been approaching the end of my tether with Arsene Wenger ten days ago. The defeat against City might not have meant a huge amount, but it summed up a flippancy, and a stubbornness that had me seriously worried, coming as it did so quickly after the humbling defeat by Chelsea. I wrote a piece (Ed’s note – not submitted to the website) that could be filed squarely under ‘impatient rantings’ that was as much an act of catharsis as it was obj_ective (or at least not totally subjective) opinion.

In the last ten days, however, enough has happened to lighten my mood, and nothing more so than the interview Cesc and Vermaelen gave directly after the match on Sunday night. The pig-headed, almost fatherly, protection that Wenger had always showed towards his players had led many – myself included – to question his priorities. Were his young charges now dearer to him than the club?

If there’s little the players can do about their lack of height, the bigger gripe has often been their lack of fight when up against it. The first half was a perfect embodiment of this and as the manager screamed at the fourth official for the failure to spot a borderline infringement leading up to the goal, I suspected that the second half would be more of the same, only with a helping of brattish petulance at the sheer unfairness of it all mixed in. But Wenger drew a line in the sand at half time and told his players to prove themselves worthy of the badge. It’s a fantastic, warming, image, not least because it was so unexpected.

In the end the win was down to inspiration, but only half of it ours. For all our improvements in the second half, Liverpool were hideous. Where Wenger demanded more and got it, Benitez seemingly sucked the heart out of his players. Are there two more different managers in the league? For all my occasional exasperation with our legendary boss, I would always choose his ideological, enabling flair over the dour, distrustful, spirit-sapping arrogance of Liverpool’s arch-puppeteer.

Just as Liverpool let us back in the game, Chelsea and United have let us back into the title race. With the injuries we have suffered, a little luck is the least we deserve. But we are there nonetheless, and the players and, most reassuringly, the manager have shown that the spirit to take advantage exists at the club.