Once rivals, now a huge chasm stands between Arsenal and Liverpool

With half-time approaching at Vicarage Road, Liverpool midfielder Emre Can went up for an overhead kick, scoring the only goal of the game in a colossal win over Watford. At the season's end, Liverpool finished a solitary point ahead of Arsenal in the final Champions League position, breaking Arsene Wenger's 19-year run of qualification for the competition.

Given how the following three years have played out, it seems impossible that a margin so small could have separated the two teams so recently. Arsenal actually won more games than Jurgen Klopp's side that season and the two teams finished with similar goal difference. Alexis Sanchez was the league's third top goalscorer and the Chilean and Mesut Ozil were fifth and joint-sixth respectively in the assist rankings. No Liverpool player was in the top 10 for either category.

What is undeniable is that Liverpool have taken full advantage of their return to Europe's top competition. That summer, Mohamed Salah was signed, completing the attacking axis with Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino that Premier League defences still fear today.

The Egyptian's impact was extraordinary, scoring 44 goals in all competitions in his maiden season at Anfield. Virgil van Dijk followed in January, shoring up a leaky defence that had prevented them from achieving their goals. Arsenal have long cried out for such decisive action in the transfer market at the back but have made do with a sub-par back line.

Liverpool, unencumbered with the inferiority complex that had haunted Arsenal in the Champions League, reached the final that year and could well have won the match against Real Madrid, were it not for some fatal errors from Loris Karius, who played his last game for the club thanks to the swift acquisition of Alisson Becker. A year later, they went one better and won the competition, and finished second in the Premier League with a points total bettered only twice in history. It was unfortunate for them that Manchester City were one of those teams, in that exact campaign.

And this year, Jurgen Klopp even succeeded in finding his side's holy grail - the English title, which had not been returned to Anfield since 1990. They even briefly threatened the record treasured most by Arsenal, an unbeaten Premier League season. In the end, they wrapped up the title in record time and are likely to set a record points tally.

Since being knocked off their Champions League perch three years ago, Arsenal have lurched from crisis to crisis. The following season didn't herald a reversal of fortunes and even brought the end of the Wenger era. Unai Emery did not fare much better despite an encouraging run to the Europa League final, although the north Londoners suffered their joint-worst ever loss in any final, a 4-1 reverse against local rivals Chelsea.

A dreadful run between October and December brought Emery's reign to an end with a whimper and heralded the arrival of Mikel Arteta, who has brought with him signs of encouragement, but there are still plenty of questions as the Gunners desperately scramble for qualification for the Europa League, which three years ago was a heartbreaking failure. Now it is a prize which will see the retention of a modicum of status.

It is important to note that there are some green shoots that bode well for Arsenal's future. Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka, two young stars to have emerged this season, have both recently extended their contracts at the Emirates. The latter, along with Joe Willock, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe, forms part of the first generation of homegrown players with the promise of a first-team future since the days of Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Paul Davis, Michael Thomas and David Rocastle.

Their emergency has come at an opportune time. It seems highly apparent that Arsenal's finances are severely depleted, with the club likely to hunt for loan deals, bargains and free transfers at the end of the current season. The coronavirus crisis has only worsened the club's fiscal issues after years of gambling on expensive transfers in a desperate bid to make a swift return to the Champions League. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang may have been an unequivocal success, but the jury is firmly out on Nicolas Pepe and Alexandre Lacezette.

The Gunners also have two wider issues in the transfer market which place them in stark contrast to Liverpool. While the latter club have been able to fetch healthy fees for unwanted players, offloading the likes of Jordon Ibe, Dominic Solanke, Danny Ings and Danny Ward for more than £60 million between them, Arsenal have failed to find buyers for Shkodran Mustafi and Mohamed Elneny. In January 2018, both clubs faced a similar dilemma: the departure of a star attacking midfielder. Liverpool fetched £130m for Philippe Coutinho, while Arsenal were left with Henrikh Mkhitaryan (and no money) for Alexis Sanchez. The Armenian is set to leave for free next summer, having spent two seasons on loan at Roma.

That canny in the transfer window is apparent in acquisitions too. Signing a top centre-back last summer could have made a huge difference to Arsenal last summer, but where Liverpool targeted Van Dijk, a standout performer, Arsenal scrambled around and eventually ended up with David Luiz, ever error prone and with now with advancing years to boot. The Brazilian has been nothing short of a disastrous signing, giving away a staggering total of four penalties and making several critical errors. Were it not for his bumbling mistakes, Arsenal could be comfortably in the top six and thinking about a late push for the Champions League, rather than embroiled in a desperate scramble for B-level competition.

It paints a sorry picture of how the two clubs are run. Liverpool recognised that they were going nowhere under Brendan Rodgers and acted decisively in firing him and hiring Klopp. who had been unattached since leaving Borussia Dortmund at the end of the 2015 season and was taking a short break from the game. Arsenal dithered in getting rid of Emery, despite it being apparent that he was not up to the job, missing an entire international break in which they could do it. They were eventually forced into a hiring process just before the busy Christmas period, giving Arteta precious little time to train his players ahead of his opening matches, which came thick and fast in the days after his December appointment.

Where owner Stan Kroenke is generally reviled by the Arsenal fans and seen as someone who has made a tidy profit from his ownership of the club while delegating most responsibility for footballing matters to various directors, John W Henry and Fenway Sports Group have been fine stewards of Liverpool.

The departure of Arsene Wenger created a power vacuum which saw Sven Mislintat leave his recruitment role after just over a year. He later blamed clashing personalities and egos. This is in stark contrast to Liverpool, who have sometimes been a little conservative in the market (to which failed deals for Nabil Fekir and Timo Werner attest) but there is a general sense that the club's owners and directors are generally pulling in the same direction and that funds are available for Klopp should he need them.

When Arsenal and Liverpool meet at the Emirates on Wednesday, the two clubs will not have been further apart in generations. And there few signs that the gap will be closed any time soon. Even before Liverpool pipped Arsenal to Champions League qualification in 2017, they were a far better run club. Since then, a huge chasm has opened up on the pitch, with few signs that the situation will change any time soon.