This is of course the test: it is a very important season for him. It won’t be enough to rule him out tomorrow but I think we may see Falcao start up top to protect the Spaniard. “Then I’m sure we can win stuff”.
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And although Mourinho’s men go into the new season as title favourites, he believes Arsenal and three others will push his side all the way.
I would say this game means more to Arsenal than it does to Chelsea and I think that when it is like that, the team it matters most to usually win. They were more stale than us defensively, at the start of the season especially.
“You put those guys into this team now and we could win everything”.
“Welcome this mentality, welcome this economic power, welcome this ambition”.
The Community Shield this year has an extra importance as the battle for the famous shield looks ever more likely to become a precursor to the fight for the Premier League title.
Arsenal have failed to score past Chelsea in their last 5 meetings.
“It is going to be more hard now for all of us”.
“I never make my victories over Arsenal an expression of happiness or special pride”. There’s a lot of young players here and we’re okay. It’s his decision.
Mourinho has been managing at highest level for over ten years now, since he burst onto the scene winning the Champions League with Porto in 2004, but is still only 52, meaning he has nearly 20 years left if he wants to emulate the legendary longevity of Ferguson and Robson.
Mourinho has a strong squad, but admits he is short of options in defence – something he will seek to address before the transfer window closes.
While the new Gunners signing is expected to start, Chelsea have been handed a double fitness boost with the news that both Gary Cahill and Diego Costa have been passed fit to play. “That’s obvious”, Mourinho said.
Both clubs will have an allocation of around 26,000 tickets for the Premier league fixture.
“Congratulations to them. They had a couple of chances in counterattacks, but we had ours in organised football”.
Chelsea’s pursuit of John Stones has hit an impasse, with Everton holding firm. After six games we were 11 points behind Chelsea and finished 12 points behind Chelsea. Literally after two minutes he was backing in.
Not that we wish Mourinho ill, particularly.
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“I will leave you with your love story with him to continue without interference”, Wenger said this week, referring to what he sees as a media love-in with the Chelsea boss.
