For Mikel Arteta, any game against Liverpool stirs the juices. ‘Once a blue, always a blue,’ a mantra those with deep-rooted Everton connections live their life by.
Having spent six years on Merseyside, Arteta is familiar with the sentiment. He knows what it’s like to exist in the shadow of the red half across Stanley Park. He’s lived and breathed the rivalry.
Of course, Arteta’s allegiances are very much of the red persuasion at the moment. But it’s the reds of north London who have stolen his heart.
Yet some things never change; again it is Liverpool who are threatening to ruin his party.