LIAM MACKEY: Wenger deserves a shot at redemption

Arsenal’s game against Aston Villa today might not be make or break but, such has been the ratcheting up of the pressure on Arsene Wenger in recent weeks, it feels like it is.

The extent to which you regard the club as being in crisis largely depends on whether you’re a fan or a supporter. That crucial distinction was made plain to me by my earliest memory of seeing the Gunners in action on the small screen, that long ago summer’s day when they beat Liverpool in the FA Cup Final to claim the double in 1971.

Largely because Ireland’s Steve Heighway was on the wing, I began the game by supporting Liverpool, a position only hardened by the ugliness of the George Graham goal which cancelled out Heighway’s opener. But when that definitively 1970s footballer, lank-haired, cheeky Charlie George, won it with a screamer — and then lay down on the turf to await the amorous congratulations of his team mates — I instantly switched allegiance to the Gunners (oh, the easiness of life for a 12-year-old whose overarching loyalty, in any event, was to the green and white hoops of Shamrock Rovers).