Coke vs Pepsi; Burger King vs McDonalds; Facebook vs Twitter; Arsene Wenger vs Jose Mourinho; which rivalry is the fiercest of all? The last one, of course. Ever since Jose Mourinho arrived at Chelsea from FC Porto in 2004, he and longtime Arsenal chief Arsene Wenger have had a fiery relationship. They would ridicule each other in the public eye, and even mix it up on the touchline, set by when Wenger pushed Mourinho in the first meeting between their respective clubs in the 2014/15 season.
Mourinho called Wenger a “specialist in failure”, but Wenger’s record at Arsenal hardly shows that at all, as he has gone undefeated for a whole season, qualified for the UEFA Champions League in each of his seasons at the club, even while transfer funds were limited because of the debt from the new stadium. Both managers have had illustrious careers, Mourinho using superior tactics and annoying yet successful mind games to beat teams while Wenger develops his players, plays beautiful football, and stays away from controversy in the media.
Recently, Mourinho accused his rivals of trying to buy the title, saying to the reporter that they would “find a surprise” when they calculated how much Arsenal have spent in recent times. The reality is that Arsenal have spent about £104 million less than Chelsea in the last four years, with the former having spent £167.29 million, and the latter spent £271.6 million. The Portuguese manager did give Arsenal some credit, saying: “If you put [Mesut] Özil plus Alexis Sánchez, plus [Calum] Chambers, plus [Mathieu] Debuchy you will maybe find a surprise. It’s a fantastic squad; lots and lots of good players, a fantastic goalkeeper. I think they are more than ready to be title contenders.”
This is a nice endorsement from the coach of a bitter rival, but he is likely playing mind games; trying to get Arsene Wenger overconfident in his current squad while being scared to splash the cash on a few world class players because it could put his reputation in danger. This scenario could take two foreseeable routes: Wenger will be his usual, penny-pinching self, or, he will throw caution to the wind and break the bank for one or two top quality players. The bottom line is, if Wenger wants to finally beat Mourinho for the first time in 13 games, he will have to take the second course, which could put the North London club in pole position to take the crown and win the Premier League for the first time since 2004, when the Gunners became Invincibles.
Comments.
Loading comments…