Champions League quarter-final second leg, ITV1, 7.45pm, bet here
This week’s top prize for loony marketing initiatives goes to the organisers of the Olympic Games, for parading the Olympic torch behind a phalanx of a dozen shell-suited Chinese goons, countless local police (some on roller skates) and who knows how many plain clothes spotters with a keen eye for a trouble maker. Play with fire, and you get burnt. Play with symbols, however, and you get your head kicked in, and not very symbolically. What a confusing advert for an international athletics jamboree. While these weirdos march up and down with their “sacred flame”, however, Arsenal and Liverpool have a very real issue to settle. The Champions League feels like the kind of organisation that would quite like a sacred flame of its own, but fortunately matches such as tonight’s provide enough old-fashioned winner-goes-through, loser-goes-home drama that no amount of roller-skating cops could add to the sense of occasion. Some people will be happy, others will be sad, and the tears will be genuine. Watch and learn, Olympics - keep it simple, and ditch the stupid symbols.
The statistics
* Arsenal have not won away at any of the Big Four this season, while Liverpool haven’t beaten a Big Four side at all.
While Kevin Keegan failed to uphold his excellent record with new teams (he has never lost a match with a newly-managed side, and has always scored), plenty of the weekend’s Premier League action went according to our statistics.
Firstly, we told you Birmingham’s January blues would continue:
» chickendinner superfact: Birmingham are yet to win a game in January, and they picked up