wengerArsene Wenger meets rivals, Chelsea at home and marks his 1000th game being as the Gunners boss.
Although, the club has being trophiless going to nine seasons but Arsenal is at the tip as favourites to win the FA Cup and also stands a chance to lift the EPL title.
The french man now meets his opposite contender Mourinho, whom they’ve both had clash of words earlier on, on saturday’s Premier League game.
Mourinho’s relationship with the Arsenal manager has often been strained and was marked by a fractious exchange in February when the Chelsea manager described his opposite number as a “specialist in failure”.
Mourinho refused to discuss that exchange, but said that he admired Wenger’s longevity.
Asked if he would like to pay tribute to the French man, he said: “The tribute is to say that I believe that any one of us, we would love to have the same privilege with our clubs.
“I admire him and I admire Arsenal, because it’s not possible to have 1000 matches unless the club is also a fantastic club in the way they support the manager, especially in the bad moments, and
especially when the bad moments were quite a lot. I admire the manager and the club.”
Mourinho also made it clear that he would like to emulate Wenger with an extended spell in charge of one club.
“I would like to do it, but it’s very, very difficult,” he said. “It was always difficult. In modern football, it’s even more difficult.
“If I accumulate my first three and a bit years with
Chelsea and this one, I have a few. Let’s see if I can
reach, not 1 000, but 500. It would be fantastic.”
Wenger has never managed to register a victory
against a Mourinho team in 10 attempts, but the
Chelsea manager does not think that record will have
any bearing on Saturday’s meeting.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s not against him. It’s
Chelsea against Arsenal. I didn’t play Arsenal with
Inter, Madrid or Porto; just Chelsea.
“It’s Arsenal v Chelsea, not me against him. Records
don’t play any role: a match is a match. It’s not coach
against coach, it’s team against team.”