LONDON — There can scarcely be two Premier League managers more acutely aware of the intangible importance of winning the midfield battle than Mikel Arteta and Xabi Alonso.
As one or two people may have mentioned this week, Arsenal and Chelsea’s managers are both graduates of the same tiny kids team in San Sebastián and spent years of their shared youth battling each other. Those hours scrapping on the sands of Antiguo were effectively one elongated midfield duel.
