Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has called Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger a “specialist in failure”

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has called
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger a
“specialist in failure”.

The Portuguese’s claim is the latest in a war
of words between the two, whose respective
sides are challenging for the Premier League
title this season.

Earlier on Friday, Wenger declared that the
league was Chelsea’s to lose, adding that
Mourinho’s claim that the Blues are
outsiders represents a fear of failure.

At a press conference later in the day,
Mourinho – who won five major trophies
during his first spell as Chelsea boss,
including the Premier League twice, between
2004 and 2007 – drew attention to Arsenal’s
current eight-year spell without a major
trophy, saying: “He is a specialist in failure,
I am not.

“If he is right and I have a fear of failure it
is because I don’t fail many times. So maybe
he is right?
“The reality is he’s a specialist because eight
years without a piece of silverware, that is
failure. If I did that in Chelsea I would leave
London and not come back.”

When asked about Wenger’s claim that
Chelsea are favourites for the title,
Mourinho replied: “The champions are
Manchester United. They are the title-owner
until the moment where mathematically they
lose it.

“If they are not champions this season, and
we all agree it is almost impossible for them
to be, they lose the title, nobody else.”
League leaders Chelsea hold a one-point
advantage over second-placed Arsenal in the
race for the title.

Manchester City are also in the running, two
points worse off than the Gunners in third
but having played a game less, with
Liverpool fourth a point behind Manuel
Pellegrini’s side.

At his own press conference ahead of
Arsenal’s FA Cup fifth-round tie with
Liverpool this weekend, Wenger was asked
why, apart from himself and Pellegrini, every
other manager is ruling out title success.

The Frenchman responded: “It’s a fear to
fail.
“If you’re not in the race you cannot lose it,
if you declare yourself not in the race you
cannot lose it, simple as that.
“I think just that our job is to be ambitious
and to try to win, if we do not win to take
full responsibility for that. That’s as simple
as that and that’s how I see it.

“I say yes we are in it, yes we will have a go
for it, we will absolutely give everything to
go for it and if we don’t do it I will take
responsibility for it, but I just see it like
that.”

Chelsea are also in FA Cup action this
weekend when they face Manchester City on
Saturday.
At the start of this month, Mourinho’s side
produced a superb tactical display to win 1-0
at the Etihad in the league and the
Portuguese says his side will be playing for
another win at the weekend.

“There are not two games the same,” he
added. “Is the approach the same, in the
sense we are going to try to win in spite of
playing the best team in this country? Yes.

“We don’t want a replay, we don’t need a
replay.
“We are not going there to try to get a draw
and to bring the game to Stamford Bridge.
“We want to play, we want to try to win. If
we do, we do. If we lose, we lose.”