Mourinho looks to resume normal service

It was far from a normal result, but Jose Mourinho claims he had the most normal of reactions. The last time Chelsea hosted Arsenal, back on March 22, they secured their biggest ever win over their London neighbours, with a 6-0 destruction.

Sat, 04 Oct, 2014 - 01:00

Miguel Delaney

It left Arsene Wenger unable to face the press, and brought intense discussion behind the scenes at their London Colney base. For Mourinho, it was rather different. He claims he didn’t even really celebrate, and scoffs at the idea he watched it on Match of the Day that night.

“I did what I normally do. I can switch off,” he said yesterday.

This weekend, as Chelsea face Arsenal for the first time since that humiliation, Mourinho attempted to switch off the heat on their rivalry. He played down tensions, describing something else as “normal”: his relationship with Wenger.

“It’s normal. It’s correct. The correct relation... if you don’t disturb.”

Mourinho was referring to the supposed barb from Wenger about “fear of failure”, which he claims prompted his notorious “specialist in failure” comment.

For once, though, the dominant topic in the build-up to Sunday’s match was not their rivalry or record against each other. It was something else, even if that something may further tilt things in favour of Mourinho’s fine run against Arsenal.

It was the signing of Cesc Fabregas: what it means, and what it will mean to the player to face his old club.

The last few weeks have seen much discussion about whose choice it actually was that saw the midfielder end up at Chelsea and not Arsenal.

Wenger said he turned Fabregas down, and the player recently intimated as much. Mourinho insisted it “doesn’t matter”, but he was very clear about a few other things.

Fabregas wanted to leave Barcelona, rather than the Spanish club making the explicit decision to sell him. The 27-year-old already feels at home at Stamford Bridge, and it is like he has been at the club “for a long time”.

“He is Chelsea,” Mourinho declared.

The Portuguese still betrays an element of surprise that he actually has Fabregas.

“He was a good player, a good player,” the Chelsea manager enthused. “It never looked possible he’d become my player. I was at Chelsea, he was at Arsenal. I was at Real [Madrid], he was at Barcelona.

“The player wanted to leave [Barcelona]. Many times it’s a club decision to let a player go, even if you want him and the player is not happy enough... so maybe it was a good decision for him, too.”

Mourinho also maintains Fabregas will not regret that decision.

The Chelsea manager was asked how long it will take before he feels Stamford Bridge is his true English home rather than Arsenal.

“The point isn’t about replacing,” Mourinho says. “He’ll never lose his respect and connection with a club where he arrived as a kid and left as a top player. I wouldn’t be happy if he came here saying he didn’t care about Arsenal, ‘my life at Arsenal is over, I forget everything now, it’s just about Chelsea’. I don’t like that approach. Many times, when they say that, it’s not true. If it’s true, it’s also not good. So I’m completely happy with his approach.

“I think he loves Chelsea already. He’s so happy: the way he plays, the way he’s a member of the squad, the way he lives in this little village. It is like he’s here for a long time. If you ask him now if he regrets the move, I’m sure he’d say no. If you ask him if he’d choose a different option, he’d say no. And if you ask him where he thinks he’ll be in five years’ time, he’d say he sees himself here for the next five years. He is Chelsea.

“One thing is that, but I’m happy with his approach.”

Mourinho can’t but be happy with Fabregas’ contribution. He has not just fitted into the team as easily as the club, but also moved Chelsea up a level, finally offering proper attacking depth to their midfield.

“I wanted him because I know the player he is. And I know he was good for the philosophy we wanted for the team. I knew that he’s one of not many players who can play as a number-eight or a number-10, so gives me chances to play him on both positions and build a midfield knowing that.

“This, plus the fact that he was made in England and played for so many years in English football, that’s a plus. He doesn’t need that adaptation. He comes back home. We knew he was perfect for us. We tried. We tried hard, and we succeeded.”

It may well help Chelsea to another success over Arsenal. Fabregas has not just provided an extra attacking angle, but also an extra spikiness. The player became notorious among Chelsea fans when at Arsenal because of the manner he put it up to Frank Lampard.

Now, he’s replicating Lampard’s attacking thrust, and already earned a lot of affection.

Mourinho will hope it earns another win over Wenger.

Mourinho v Wenger: Head-to-head

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