Arsene Wenger more respected than me, complains Jose Mourinho

It is actually 12 years since Wenger last won his third Premier League title with Arsenal, though Mourinho – who has the same tally – said that both of them deserved respect.

“I was in a press conference today where it was more about controversy between Mourinho and me”, Wenger told Sky Sports.

“Should we be respected even in periods when our results are not the best?”

“So overall, on top of that, I think that is really the key game, it was a key game for us and that is where we did not respond with the quality of performance on the day”. We are flesh and blood so I think it has an effect.

The situation became more uncertain when reports emerged one week ago claiming former Fulham defender Smalling had suffered a broken toe in a training session with United during the global break, ruling him out of the clash with Arsenal on Saturday. “For me, the only thing that matters is what you get globally as a team”.

The pair have had touchline spats since Mourinho’s early days at Chelsea, with the Portuguese often using barbed comments aimed at Wenger.

Although Arsenal’s most recent title was in 2004, and United has struggled since Ferguson’s 2013 retirement, this season the fixture has an added layer of drama: Jose Mourinho.

A win for United would take them to within three points of Arsenal in the Premier League table. The Ozil factor is something people should be keeping in mind when they’re writing off Paul Pogba (who joined from Juventus for a reported fee of US$116 million). “I think the rivalry can only affect the game in a positive way”. It’s between two clubs and two teams.

“Maybe it’s my fault, so I’m not even against you or upset with the pundits that are being every critical”.

Wenger intends to make a late check on the fitness of Alexis Sanchez, who is not due to report back from global duty with Chile until Friday. Sanchez bagged a brace in the 3-1 World Cup qualifying win over Uruguay while carrying the problem and he will be assessed by Arsenal’s medical staff having only returned to their London Colney training base on Friday.

Arsenal will be without Hector Bellerin, Santi Cazorla, Chuba Akpom, Lucas Perez, Danny Welbeck, and Per Mertesacker, while Alexis Sanchez is a doubt.

However, they’re well aware that Arsene Wenger has never beaten Jose Mourinho in a Premier League clash.

Besides, Mourinho’s reportedly going to make some changes on his defence as he’s exhausted of Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling, so Alexis could feast if that experiment doesn’t go Mourinho’s way.

But an injury sustained in England’s 3-0 win over Scotland forced him out of Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Spain and he now looks likely to find himself back in the increasingly familiar setting of the bench.

Rooney has been splashed across Britain’s newspapers this week after photographs emerged of him looking the worse for wear during a post-wedding party at the England team hotel last weekend.