Arsenal in league of their own

IT’S accepted wisdom that there are leagues within leagues within the Premiership these days.

There are the perennial strugglers at the bottom, the rump in the middle hoping to grasp a European place and those for whom a spot in the Champions League represents a minimum ambition. Then there is Arsenal.

The mere suggestion might be enough to send Alex Ferguson into a boot-kicking fury but, increasingly it seems, his Manchester United side have been usurped at the pinnacle of the domestic game.