We can only sit back and admire the way that Arsene Wenger has turned things around this season to put Arsenal back into the title race after a horrendous start to the season. The Gunners have emphasised their improvement by beating both Manchester clubs on their home ground, but there is still one monkey on Wenger’s back – the fact that he has never beaten Jose Mourinho in twelve meetings.
This hoodoo is set to end today when Chelsea come to the Emirates, and Laurent Koscielny is keen for the team to overcome that psychological barrier (and Mourinho’s mind games) to leave them full of confidence for the next campaign.
Koscielny said: ‘It’s true that Jose Mourinho likes the psychological game but that works just for a time, because it is on the pitch where things happen.
‘It’s been complicated for the boss and I hope, just for once, he will win against Mourinho. It’s up to us to produce our game, which is to be strong with our high pressing on the pitch.’
We don’t talk about the title,’ he continued. ‘It’s finished. But we are professionals and want to finish in a high position, and we have the final of the FA Cup so we can finish well.
‘And it’s always important to win against the best team in the Premier League. It’s psychological; you can win these games. So maybe it’s not for this season but next season we want to start quickly and it will be very important to be ready.’
It is doubly important to win today after Manchester City got a last-gasp winner against Aston Villa yesterday, which has seen them move one point ahead of us in second place. And with Manchester United only one point below us we still have work to do. So let us get our tenth win in a row today and show Mourinho that he will not find it so easy to retain the title next season….
