Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho conjured up American cowboy movies, fictitious fights in the dressing room and a statement of faith in struggling forward Eden Hazard as he prepared for Saturday’s clash with Arsenal.
The two sides meet at Stamford Bridge for the Premier league’s showcase match of the weekend, with neither having made an ideal start to the season. Chelsea has taken only four points from five league games, amid speculation of problems in the dressing room and a disagreement between Mourinho and captain John Terry — a claim the manager has strongly denied.
“I don’t have any problem with any one of my players,” Mourinho told reporters at the club’s training ground near Cobham, southwest of london.
“Normally when bad results happen, the first thing that comes into your laptops, iPads and pens is to find a dramatic story: ‘Somebody punch somebody in the dressing room,’ ‘The manager doesn’t want to speak with this guy’.
As if it were needed, adding further spice to Saturday’s game is the fact that the two managers clearly don’t get along. They squared up on the sidelines during Chelsea’s 2-0 win last season and there was no handshake between the pair following Arsenal’s 1-0 victory last month.
Wenger brushed off the media scrutiny of his relationship with Mourinho, saying: “No special relationship is my worry. “I respect everybody in the job and focus on what I love and that is football.”