Arsenal and Chelsea will put their unbeaten English Premier League season to a test on Sunday at Stamford Bridge as the Blues host the Gunners from North London. Mourinho’s Chelsea is favoured to beat Arsenal following last season’s 6-0 white-wash on Wenger’s 1000th game anniversary. Jose Mourinho seem to have the antidote to Wenger’s tactics and is yet to record a loss from the Frenchman.
The Sunday game will be the 12th time the two managers have squared up against themselves. All of the previous games has been between Chelsea and Arsenal. So how did it all start?
Game 1: Arsenal 2 Chelsea 2, Premier League, December 12, 2004
Chelsea twice came from behind against defending champions Arsenal, with John Terry (17′) and Eidur Gudjohnsen (46′) cancelling out Thierry Henry’s double (2′, 29′).
Game 2: Chelsea 0 Arsenal 0, Premier League, April 20, 2005
Chelsea were held to a stalemate as they matched towards League glory for the 1st time in 50 years with an 11 point lead with 5 games in hand.
Game 3: Arsenal 1 Chelsea 2, Community Shield, August 7, 2005
Didier Drogba scored his first of many goals against Arsenal as his brace (8′, 51′) helped Arsenal to the Community Shield. Fabregas pulled one back for the gunners in the 65th minute.
Game 4: Chelsea 1 Arsenal 0, Premier League, August 21, 2005
Drogba continued from where he stopped 2 weeks before. He grabbed his third goal against Arsenal in the 73rd minute.
Game 5: Arsenal 0 Chelsea 2, Premier League, December 18, 2005
Arjen Robben and Joe Cole help Chelsea to a 2-0 win in Highbury. The win left the Gunners 20 points behind the Blues and losing their 3rd straight league game in a row for the first time in 10 years.
Game 6: Chelsea 1 Arsenal 1, Premier League, December 10, 2006
After almost a year since the Gunners traded tackles with the Blues, Flamini’s 78th minute goal seemed to have brought Wenger his first taste of victory over Mourinho. But, Essien’s thunderous wavering strike 6 minutes from time kept Mourinho unbeaten against Wenger. So close. Phew.
Game 7: Chelsea 2 Arsenal 1, League Cup final, February 25, 2007
Theo Walcott scored his first Arsenal goal in the 12th minute but Drogba continued to haunt Arsenal as he got his brace in the 20th and 84th minute. The League cup final was marred by red cards to Adebayor, Kolo Toure and Mikel.
Game 8: Arsenal 1 Chelsea 1, Premier League, May 6, 2007
Arsenal hosted Chelsea for the first time in their new stadium but failed to win as Micheal Essien’s 70th minute goal cancelled Gilberto’s 43rd minute penalty. The result was a bad result for Mourinho as Manchester United capitalized on the dropped 2 points at the Emirates to lift the Premier League trophy. The gunners couldn’t still grab a win despite playing with a man advantage for over 45mins with Boulahrouz getting his matching orders in the 43rd minute.
Game 9: Arsenal 0 Chelsea 2, League Cup, October 29, 2013
Mourinho returned to England after conquering Italy and Spain but Wenger still found it difficult to get a better of the Portuguese. Juan Mata 66’and Azpilicueta 25′ got the goals that sent Arsenal out of the League cup.
Game 10: Arsenal 0 Chelsea 0, Premier League, December 23, 2013
Arsenal failed to reclaim top spot in the Premier League as they played out a dreadful stalemate with Chelsea at Emirates Stadium. Mourinho came with a double Decker bus and got the result he wanted.
Game 11: Chelsea 6 Arsenal 0, Premier League, March 22, 2014.
Arsenal were beaten black and blue in Chelsea’s biggest ever victory over the gunners. Two goals in 7 minutes set up the disaster for Wenger. A red card to Keiran Gibbs for Chamberlain’s offence added pepper to the injury as the Gunners were 4-0 down by half time. They managed the damage in the second half but conceded two more to the delight of Mourinho.
The result will latter prove insignificant to Mourinho as he ended the season without a trophy while Arsene Wenger, labelled by Mourinho as a “Specialist in Failure”, got the FA Cup.
Game 12: Chelsea Vs Arsenal, Premier League, October 5, 2014.
So we are in the 12th Epistle of the Wenger vs Mourinho battle. Will Wenger get his first victory over Mourinho? Will Mourinho continue his unbeaten record against Wenger? Chelsea looks more likely to get all three points with Diego Costa and Fabregas in their ranks. But Football is about the 90 minutes played on the pitch where records are disrespected and names overlooked.
The Gunners will have to dig deep to get Wenger’s first victory over Mourinho. A victory will be remembered for a long time.
COYG.
Enjoy.
SoccerGunz 