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| Arsene Wenger says he is not concerned by his poor relationship with Jose Mourinho |
ARSENE WENGER has urged the focus to be kept on the game rather than his sour relationship with Jose Mourinho this weekend.
The Gunners travel to Stamford Bridge on Saturday (12.45pm) in search of their first Premier League win against Mourinho’s Chelsea.
Wenger has failed in 10 attempts to beat the ‘special one’ in the league and will be hoping he can build on the Charity Shield win at the start of the season.
And there might not be a better time for the Frenchman to taste victory against his great adversary, with Mourinho losing back-to-back league games last weekend for the first time since 2006.
The defending champions are floundering near the foot of the table, just two points off the relegation places.
So it’s understandable Wenger is keen to keep the focus on what happens on the pitch rather than what occurs the other side of the white line.
“Realistically people come to watch football and all the rest is a little bit secondary,” he said.
“What is important is the quality of what we will see tomorrow morning at 12:45 and you want people to focus on that.”
The duo have become renowned for their feisty encounters on the touchline, notably squaring-up at Stamford Bridge and snubbing each other at Wembley.
But the Arsenal boss insists he doesn’t let Mourinho’s jibes get to him and he’s looking for a stellar performance from his players, despite defeat at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday.
He added: “I focus on what I love which is football. I respect everybody in the job and all the rest honestly does not concern me much.
“No special relationship [with Mourinho] is of my worry, all I worry about is our performance tomorrow.
“We must be well organised defensively and ready to take every situation and opportunity to attack and play our game.
“The players have a good, strong mentality and good attitude and they want to put things right of course.”
And Wenger will not be taking Chelsea lightly despite their stuttering defence of the Premier League crown - the worst since Blackburn in the 1995/96 season.
“It is far too early to judge Chelsea at the moment but I want for us to do well tomorrow as for me playing against Chelsea is a big game,” he said.
“Let’s not forget it’s the start of the season and only five games have been played.
“For us it’s a big game and we know our position at the end of the season will depend on how well we do in the big games.
“I do not think too much about where Chelsea stand in the league at the moment. I focus more on us performing well with full power tomorrow.”
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