TERRACE TALK: Arsenal - Will Arsene hang around for next instalment?

Played in front of a relatively humble crowd of 3,000 Gooners and a smattering of extremely hardy Scousers, Friday night’s hors d’ouevres of an FA Youth Cup quarter-final at the Emirates might’ve been world’s away from “perhaps the biggest North London derby ever”.

Despite the brass monkey weather, it was an enjoyable 90 minutes and unlike Saturday’s high-profile clash, it won’t have taken at least another year off my life, due to the unhealthy toll of so much excruciating stress.

There’s always something far more genuine about a family crowd turning out on a freezing cold night, to watch some affordable (free even!) footie. Unlike the Premier League’s increasing proliferation of tourist glory-hunters, they certainly hadn’t paid £250 to a tout for the principle purpose of posting photos on social media, so that they can smugly be “seen to be there” by all their Facebook friends.