Over the past decade, Arsene Wenger has stood in the opposite dugout from Jose Mourinho on twelve occasions and the Frenchman has so far not recorded a single victory over his nemesis. (The record is seven wins for Jose and five draws)

You get the feeling for the few days leading up to games against Jose’s teams, Wenger wakes up in cold sweats as his sleep is disturbed by Mourinho walking over to him and shaking his hand, with an arrogant grin on his face and saying ‘Better luck next time Monsieur‘.

Let’s not forget that Jose once described Wenger as ‘a specialist in failure’.

So can Wenger finally score a victory over the Portuguese ‘Special One’?

Well for the first time, since Mourinho’s debut season, Arsenal are Chelsea’s closest rivals at the top of the English Premier League. Although like in 2004-05 the Gunners are trailing by double figures, in terms of points.

But this time Arsenal welcome Chelsea with the North London side bang in form.

The Gunners have only lost twice since the turn of the year in domestic football. In that same timeframe they’ve picked up sixteen domestic victories and have once again reached the final of the FA Cup!

In that run Wenger’s men have beaten the likes of Man United, Man City, Everton and Liverpool.

They have goalscorers in the team with Alexis Sanchez, Oliver Giroud, Danny Welbeck and Aaron Ramsey all capable of scoring in the big games!

In Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla they have magicians that can unlock any defence on their day.

In the midfield, they have a disciplined Francis Coquelin who will sit back and marshall in front of the defence with his combative style. He has added much needed balance to Wenger’s team. The youngster was also pivotal in the Gunners downing Manchester United back in March.

So Arsene and his squad come into this game full of confidence, in top form and with a style that has proven successful in the bigger games.

But Jose Mourinho will still fancy his chances of outdoing Arsene Wenger yet again.

Yes it’s true that the Gunners have found a better pragmatic style to outgun the stronger sides but when you take a closer look at those results most have them have came away from the Emirates. Arsenal tend to be happier to sit back in the away fixtures, while at home they go for the free-flowing attacking football that Arsene loves. That more adventurous style is certainly easy easier on the eye but it leaves gaps and the defence seem to be more vulnerable.

Against Man United and Southampton earlier in the season, Arsenal dominated in terms of possession but lost those home fixtures.

Their home performance against Monaco in the Champions League caused their biggest downfall so far in this campaign. That night Arsenal were shockingly naive and too gung-ho! In that game they again had the majority of possession but lacked any defensive discipline.

Arsenal also dropped points at home against Man City, Hull, Tottenham and Anderlecht. Jose will have noticed these flaws and will go all out to exploit them.

Chelsea also have that uncanny ability (that champions develop) of just refusing to drop too many points. The ‘Blues’ will cross the capital knowing that a draw will be good enough for them. They will sit back and allow Arsenal to come at them and then have the likes of Oscar, Willian and Eden Hazard ready to lead breakaways.

Man United last week took on Chelsea and like Arsenal, United were in form and full of confidence. Yet Chelsea expertly soaked up the pressure and then hit Louis van Gaal’s men with a sucker punch that saw Jose’s men the victors.

With the huge rivalry between Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho coming into this game, I just think they will cancel each other out and it will end in a draw. That will keep the Portuguese boss smiling, while Wenger will have to go back to the drawing board and workout how he can finally put Mourinho into the shade next season!

Posted on April 25th, 2015 by scott
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