DANNY JOY!
Welbeck seals Wenger’s first win over Jose at 15th attempt
DANNY WELBECK helped give Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger his first win over a Jose Mourinho side in 15 competitive games yesterday. But the Arsenal boss (left) still found himself the target of a verbal swipe from Manchester United’s manager despite goals from Granit Xhaka and Welbeck ending the away side’s 25-match unbeaten run in the Premier League. Mourinho said: ‘Arsene Wenger is not a small manager, he’s a big manager, to have that record of winning so many matches against him is not normal. Normal is win, lose, draw. I really don’t care about it
here. We had no problems. We shook hands before the game and after the game — and during the game I don’t like what I never like, he puts too much pressure on the fourth official. Every time.
‘Finally I leave this stadium with Arsenal fans happy. Arsenal fans are happy and I am happy for them. It is the first time I leave here and they are happy. And I am happy because they are an amazing club.
‘I leave Highbury and they were crying. I leave the Emirates and they were crying, walking in the streets with heads low. Today they leave waving their scarves.
‘Arsenal is a big club. You think I enjoy a big club like Arsenal not winning trophies? I don’t enjoy it. But today I tried to win.’
The two managers have had a stormy relationship since Mourinho arrived in English football at Chelsea in 2004.
Yesterday they exchanged words on the touchline when Wenger reacted angrily to a challenge by Wayne Rooney on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the first half.
Wenger refused to trade insults but the Arsenal manager will be sure to have savoured the win.
‘You know it is between two teams at the end of the day,’ said Wenger when asked about the personal rivalry. He preferred to focus on his rekindled hopes of making a late dash into the Champions League qualifying slots.
Arsenal still languish in sixth, two points behind United and six behind fourth-placed Manchester City with a game in hand.
‘It was important to respond after the derby,’ added Wenger. ‘We lost at Tottenham and it did not happen many times and you play Manchester United in another big game and you cannot afford to lose.
‘In fact, we won at Middlesbrough and against City in the FA Cup semi-final, we won against Leicester and we won here. We had just one blip and we look a bit more stable.
‘We have a big game on Wednesday at Southampton, a very good team. We still have a chance and we need some help as well from the teams around us.’
Mourinho, however, wrote off United’s top-four hopes and vowed to focus on reaching the Champions League by winning the Europa League. His team are 1-0 ahead in the semi-final against Celta Vigo with the second leg to come on Thursday at Old Trafford. They return to Premier League action at Tottenham on Sunday.
‘Impossible. It’s all on the Europa League,’ said Mourinho. ‘ Two reasons. I don’t think the others playing one match a week are going to lose. And because we go with everything on Thursday and cannot go with everything at Tottenham.
‘Go with everything at Tottenham and it is difficult. Without everything it’s more difficult. Then we have Southampton and Crystal Palace. I don’t think we have any chance of the top four.
‘We have to chase the Champions League by trying to win the Europa League.’
Mourinho saw his team miss good early chances at Arsenal before falling behind to two goals in three second-half minutes, a deflected opener claimed by Xhaka and a fine second by United old boy Welbeck.
‘We didn’t deserve to lose,’ said Mourinho. ‘We had the game under control and I’m very happy with the players. I made changes, not to improve my team but to give people a rest. They surprised me in a positive way. Their mentality was fantastic, always in the game and fighting.’
SKY SPORTS had the unlikeliest pairing of pundits sharing the same studio at Isleworth yesterday for their Indian Premier League coverage of Royal Challengers Bangalore against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Kevin Pietersen joined host Nick Knight, despite the long history of animosity between them. It was to Knight that director of England cricket Andrew Strauss was talking when he was overheard at the back of a TV studio describing KP as a ‘complete ****’.
Pietersen has even been fined by the ECB for tweeting his astonishment that Sky are employing Knight. He posted: ‘Can somebody please tell me how Nick Knight has worked his way into the commentary box? Ridiculous.’
Knight was regarded at the time with some suspicion by England players for allegedly relaying on air bits of information he had picked up from them on the outfield before the start of play. Sky say they have no concerns with the Knight-Pietersen combination and would use it again without any worries.
lMCC in their wisdom have spent £4million refurbishing the unloved media centre at Lord’s rather than knock it down and start again, as many would prefer. And the only real change for the written Press from the big spend is that the seats are a tad more comfortable.
DURHAM cricket fans should not count on seeing new chairman Sir Ian Botham too often at the Riverside this season, even when he is not on Sky pundit duty. A club official said yesterday Sir Ian (right) had been at Durham two or three times, but they had no advance knowledge when he would next be there.
lDEREK BREWER, the MCC chief executive, is not alone in leaving Lord’s prematurely — he is taking early retirement in part due to a tense existence with busy chairman Gerald Corbett. The long-serving Colin Maber, who has also stood down earlier than expected as chairman of estates, went public at the club annual meeting that being unable to forge a working relationship with Corbett was one of his reasons for going.