A deliberate act of tea-timely, spiteful and bureaucratic sabotage

It has been a busy couple of days in Doha, where Fifa president Gianni Infantino has had to field no end of awkward questions about the upcoming Human Rights World Cup in Qatar. However, one particularly tricky question The Fiver can’t help but feel has gone unasked regards the timing of Friday’s draw. Scheduled for 5pm BST, it hasn’t gone unnoticed here in Fiver Towers that world football’s governing body has pointedly timed it to coincide with the arrival of the world’s most daily email in the spam folders of our subscribers, meaning we’re unable to provide any pithy commentary here. What’s more, this deliberate act of spiteful, bureaucratic sabotage means that, in terms of piping-hot takes on high-profile match-ups, it behoves us to scrabble around closer to home.

Following a two-week hiatus the Premier League resumes on Saturday, with Liverpool’s game against Watford getting proceedings under way at Anfield. Victory for Jürgen Klopp’s side would see them leapfrog Manchester City and go top of the table for a couple of hours at least, until Pep Guardiola and his merry men swat Burnley aside at Turf Moor. Not that the German is taking his side’s inevitable win for granted against a side battling for Premier League survival. “If we viewed this as an easy game we wouldn’t have that many points,” he cooed, before spoiling the surprise he has in store for Mr Roy’s team and insulting a town 40 miles away. “We have to surprise Watford with our intensity – it’s not an easy weekend for City or us. Burnley is the last place you want to go.”

For a man who has complained loudly and at great length since his arrival in England any time his team has been forced to play early on a Saturday, Klopp was uncharacteristically upbeat