If home is where the heart is, we should all be Liverpool fans

LIVERPOOL'S fine season is a reason for English football to celebrate because it's being driven by home-grown talent.

On the Kop they love nothing more than getting behind local youngsters.

And in a testing week, when manager Jurgen Klopp was forced to measure his squad strength because of illness, injury and international call-ups, he discovered the conveyor belt from academy to first team at Anfield is in good order.

In the 2-0 win at Arsenal in the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Fulham, Klopp's youngsters and local lads stood up to be counted.

From Trent Alexander Arnold (now facing three weeks out with a knee injury) to Curtis Jones, Jarell Quansah, Conor Bradley and Bobby Clark, they did him proud.

People talk about the Manchester United academy churning out homegrown talent from the Busby Babes to the Class of 92 and the current crop led by Marcus Rashford, but great Liverpool teams are usually built around local prodigies.