WENGER MUST TAKE THE CHANCE TO KO HIS OLD FOE MOURINHO

After Arsenal's midweek setback, the
Frenchman cannot pass up the
chance to kick his great rival while
he is down and set up his side for
the rest of the domestic campaign

Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho have spent
enough time living in London to know the old
maxim about waiting for buses before two
arrive at once.
It is doubtful that either man uses London's
public transport network - although Wenger
qualifies for free travel as a pensioner and
Mourinho has parked a few buses - but the
Frenchman will hope that the adage holds
true when the pair renew hostilities on
Saturday.
The Arsenal manager finally beat Mourinho at
the 14th time of asking when his side ground
out a 1-0 victory over Chelsea in the
Community Shield in August. After years of
goading, heckling and downright abuse from
the Blues boss, it was a sweet moment for
Wenger as he ended a remarkable and
unwanted record against his foe.
The Portuguese has called him a "voyeur", a
"specialist in failure" and mocked Arsenal's
inability to win the Premier League title since
2004 as "very boring".

Aside from his grumbles about Mourinho's lack
of dignity, Wenger likes to suggest that the
main differences between them lies in their
football philosophies. At the heart of the
animosity, though, is the fact that both are
terrible losers.
Mourinho can be considered in many respects
the anti-Wenger, a manager who jumps from
club to club, achieving spectacular results
without building for the long term. It is why
he has never spent more than three years at a
club - and he is struggling now at the start of
his third season in his second spell at Chelsea.
But he is a winner and the man who stopped
Wenger in his tracks. When Mourinho arrived
at Chelsea in 2004, Arsenal had just won their
third Premier League title under the
Frenchman with the 'Invincibles' side. Since
then, the Frenchman has won just three FA
Cups and endured a nine-year gap without a
trophy that was the basis for Mourinho's
"specialist in failure" jibe.
The Portuguese, meanwhile, has won two
Champions Leagues, eight league titles in four
countries and 10 other cup competitions.
When a club hires Mourinho, trophies are a
guarantee. He implements short-term projects
with spectacular results.
Mourinho riles at Wenger's criticism of his
managerial methods and past complaints
about Chelsea's money. It was in that context
that he crossed the line in 2007 with a
distasteful verbal attack in which he labelled
the Arsenal manager a "voyeur".
Having also signed Petr Cech over the
summer despite Mourinho's objections,
Wenger might feel that his luck has already
turned.
Arsenal's start to the season has not gone
entirely to plan, either, but the Gunners are
fourth in the table after five games, five points
behind leaders Manchester City but already
six ahead of Chelsea.
Wenger's side go in to the game off the back
of an embarrassing defeat by Dinamo Zagreb
but the 65-year-old rested six players in
Croatia on Wednesday night to ensure that he
could play his best team against Chelsea.
It took 11 years for Wenger to record his first
win over Mourinho. He would love nothing
more than to beat Chelsea again and leave his
bitter rival facing the awkward questions.