The course of true love never did run smooth. As Arsène Wenger approaches the 20th anniversary of his marriage to Arsenal — one that, delightfully, has its roots seven years earlier in a game of charades, when he acted out A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a room full of strangers at a cocktail party — he can see a relationship that has been strained, but a love that endures as it enters a period of rare uncertainty.

“He has such a love for this club,” Pat Rice, his former assistant, says, fit and healthy again as he agrees to a rare interview to discuss Wenger’s latest — and potentially final — milestone as Arsenal manager. “He’s one of the best things that has ever happened