Wenger will be glad to see me
JOSE MOURINHO says bitter rival Arsene Wenger will be pleased to see him for once – because he intends to field a weakened team at the Emirates tomorrow.
The Manchester United boss has only lost a Community Shield match to his Arsenal counterpart, who he once described as “a specialist in failure”.
Mourinho (above) is prepared to sacrifice that record and jeopardise United’s top-four hopes in order to keep his players fresh for Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg against Celta Vigo.
Happy
Most of the players who secured the 1-0 first-leg win in northern Spain last Thursday will be rested.
Mourinho’s rivalry with Wenger dates back to his arrival in England for his first spell as Chelsea boss in 2004.
But ahead of tomorrow’s clash, he said: “I think he will be pleased with me, that I am going to change my team at Arsenal. I think he will be happy with me.”
If the Gunners take the three points and win their game in hand against Southampton next Wednesday, they will leapfrog
United, who could end the campaign in sixth place, lower than in both seasons under Louis van Gaal (fourth and fifth). Mourinho feels he has no choice, but insists his team are still determined to stretch their unbeaten Premier League run to 26 matches. He said: “We are going to try. We are not going to Arsenal to say ‘beat us’, or ‘beat us 5 or 6-0’, we are going there to fight for a result. “But it’s impossible to do it in another way. If Celta was playing with their best team, if Celta was fighting for important things in La LIga, we would go in the same circumstances, but I cannot now play with the same team that played in Vigo and then repeat again next Thursday.
“So, we have to be human with the players, we have to use common sense in relation to our situation in the Premier League. I am going to rest players, sure.”
Mourinho says his warring days with Wenger (left) – who famously shoved him in the chest in a touchline bust-up during his second spell as Chelsea boss – are over.
“There are no problems,” he said. “In the last match at Old Trafford, we shook hands before and after the game. I remember that I met him in the corridor for the press conferences and we shook hands again. When there is peace, we don’t have a problem.”
Goalkeeper David De Gea will play tomorrow but Mourinho refused to say if Sergio Romero, who has started 10 of United’s 13 Europa League games, will keep his place if they reach the final in Stockholm.
Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Anthony Martial and Juan Mata are all set to return at the Emirates.