The two bosses have now shown a similar taste in enemies

Those who have noted similarities between Alan Pardew and Phil Brown were provided with even more ammunition last night when the Hull boss followed in Pardew’s footsteps by falling out with Arsene Wenger.

Obvious comparisons between the two include that both enjoyed an initial period of fantastic overachievement after winning promotion to the Premier League and went on strong FA Cup runs. Both managers made their clubs’ record signing in their first January in the top-flight (Dean Ashton and Jimmy Bullard) and both men suffered long-term injuries at a crucial time.

Negatively, both managers have received criticism for some of their methods: Pardew for his sloganed T-shirts and training complex revamps and Brown for his on-the-pitch team-talk. When both West Ham and Hull embarked on long winless runs, some fans wondered if their boss had grown complacent while others blamed it on their failure to get the best out of South American stars - Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano at West Ham and Geovanni at Hull.

The most eerie comparison of all though is that both men appeared on MOTD2 this season on a weekend where Chelsea were playing Manchester City, although for some reason one of those appearances made slightly more headlines than the other!