Second is best for Art & Co

MIK'S MEN PAY PENALTY AS BID FOR TITLE FADES

- Simon Mullock

ARSENAL will be back on Merseyside next month. It gives them plenty of time to get used to the idea of giving Liverpool a quard of honour.

Second place beckons for the third successive season for Mikel Arteta's after they nearly-men clipped another hurdle in the Premier League title race.

It is now going to take a collapse of Devon Loch proportions to prevent Arne Slot's team being crowned champions by the time the Gunners venture to the opposite side of Stanley Park on May 11.

Arsenal had to win their last-ever visit to Goodison on the day when the 177th Grand National was being staged a few miles down the road at Aintree.

They did not - and now Liverpool need just 11 points from their final eight games to take the title.