Mourinho plays down his supremacy over Wenger

LONDON (Reuters) - Chelsea may be two wins away from regaining the Premier League title, but manager Jose Mourinho insists he is taking nothing for granted - including his unblemished record against Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

Mourinho plays down his supremacy over Wenger

(Reuters)





The London rivals meet on Sunday with Chelsea 10 points clear at the top of the table. Victory at second-placed Arsenal would mean Mourinho's team can clinch the title by beating Leicester City three days later.

But Mourinho said his unbeaten record in 12 games against Wenger was irrelevant.

"For me, achievement is to win (on Sunday)," he told reporters on Friday. "It's not the other 12 matches that we played before against Arsenal.

"It's a big club with the same objectives that we have in the competitions we play. Because of that always comes a little bit of rivalry.

"He's not my rival. I just feel he's the manager of a big club in the same city where I work and I live."

The relationship between the two managers has often been fraught. During Chelsea's 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge in October, Wenger appeared to push Mourinho during a touchline spat, something he later said he regretted.

In his first spell at the club in 2005, Mourinho called the Frenchman a "voyeur" who talked too much about Chelsea and more recently described him as "a specialist in failure".

He preferred to talk about his own team, however, including Cesc Fabregas, the former Arsenal midfielder who can expect a mixed reaction at best from the home fans.

"If he has some bad reaction he's more than ready," Mourinho said. "He has made a fantastic contribution to a fantastic season."

Chelsea will wait until after Saturday's training session before deciding whether Spain striker Diego Costa is fit to return from injury.

If not, Mourinho said, he will be ready for the Leicester game. Didier Drogba will play but Loic Remy is not fit.

Something will have to give on Sunday as the leaders have won their last five away games, while Arsenal have won eight games in a row.





(Reporting by Steve Tongue, editing by Ed Osmond)


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