Mourinho warns Arsenal: ‘We will be waiting for you’
JOSE MOURINHO has warned Arsenal that Tottenham Hotspur are waiting for them after they poked fun at their north London rivals.
Mourinho has also insisted that Spurs must have far loftier ambitions than trying to finish ahead of Arsenal in the Premier League table. Arsenal moved four points clear of Spurs with Saturday’s win over Wolves ahead of Tottenham’s game against Everton tonight.
Tottenham’s defeat at Sheffield United last week prompted Arsenal to have a joke at their expense on social media. Arsenal re-released highlights of their FA Cup victory over Sheffield
United on Facebook with a message that read “It’s not easy beating Sheffield United at Bramall Lane. Here’s a reminder of how it’s done” together with a winking face emoji.
Mourinho, the Tottenham head coach, responded by saying: “I think if they were top of the league or fighting for top four and in a really good moment then they wouldn’t enjoy the problems of the others.
“You only enjoy the problems of the others when you are also in trouble. So I think in the end it’s a little more about that. They don’t have much to celebrate, so they have to take any opportunity to do it. They are in a very similar situation to what we are in the table. I don’t like to connect the club with such posts or tweets because probably the person who did it did it by himself. I don’t believe it was [Mikel] Arteta who posted it, probably it was some guy who has been working from home for three months. No problem, at home we will be waiting for them.”
Following games against Everton and Bournemouth, Tottenham entertain Arsenal on Sunday in a match which could help determine who finish the season as north London’s highest-placed club.
With Champions League qualification looking beyond both clubs, finishing above their bitter rivals might be as much as Spurs or Arsenal fans have to celebrate at the end of the campaign.
But Mourinho said: “To be the champions of north London means nothing to me. I think you must be bigger than that and have much more ambition than that. But I always look to the rivals of my clubs with different eyes. I have been at so many different big clubs, with so many special rivals, so I don’t hide that for me Arsenal at this moment is a very special rival.
“I understand that for the fans it is a special rivalry and what is special for the fans is special for me. And I want it to be also special for the players. So, yes, I would like to finish in a better position than them.” (© Daily Telegraph, London)