Mourinho is 75 games unbeaten at home in the Premier League, while Wenger has NEVER got the better of him in 10 games... but ahead of his 1,000th match will 'specialist in failure' finally taste victory?
CHELSEA v ARSENAL
Click here to read where Saturday's crunch London derby could be won and lost.
Arsene Wenger might have preferred a different venue to mark such a prestigious milestone as 1,000 games in charge of Arsenal.
A date with Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge can be the source of hostility and aggravation for rival managers but seldom any points.
It is 75 unbeaten home games and counting in the Barclays Premier League for Mourinho, who was unable to resist the chance to damn one of his favourite victims with more faint praise on the eve of a remarkable achievement.
VIDEO EXCLUSIVE Scroll down to watch ex-Arsenal players pay tribute to Wenger
Not out! Arsene Wenger will take charge of his 1,000th Arsenal game against Chelsea on Saturday
Big day ahead: Wenger was presented with a gold canon by chairman Sir Chips Keswick
Tricky customer: Jose Mourinho has enjoyed the upper hand in matches against Arsenal in recent years
Look away now! Mourinho hasn't always seen eye-to-eye with the Frenchman
Difficulties: The two managers have had their differences during Mourinho's separate stints at Chelsea
These two have bickered about telescopes, handshakes and Christmas cards over their years of combat while Wenger considers Mourinho a champion of ‘financial doping’ and finds himself branded a ‘specialist in failure’ in return.
This fixture has wallowed in animosity for 10 years, since Roman Abramovich aimed his ‘Russian tanks’ at Highbury and Mourinho arrived in London to depose the Invincibles.
But if Sir Alex Ferguson is right and these bitter managerial feuds are necessary by-products of elite competition, then Wenger will be pleased to be firmly back in Mourinho’s range.
Four points separate the teams. Arsenal have a game in hand; Chelsea a better goal difference. Chelsea have Willian and Ramires suspended; Arsenal their usual injury pile-up. Arsenal have the Premier League’s best away record; Chelsea a tight home defence.
Special relationship? Wenger has cut a frustrated figure with the Portuguese on occasions
So it began: Mourinho's Blues beat Arsenal during the 2005 Community Shield final at the Millennium Stadium
Two years on: Arsenal were left forlorn after defeat in the 2007 Carling Cup final as well
Born finisher: Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-1 in Cardiff, with Didier Drogba scoring as the Blues triumphed
Same competition, similar result: Juan Mata celebrates scoring for Chelsea before a move to Man United
Normal service resumed: The pair have sent verbal volleys towards each other throughout this season
Game of the season: Wenger has talked up the fixture, one Mathieu Flamini scored a stunner in eight years ago
‘It is the game of the season for us,’ said Wenger, and the pre-match chat drifted back into the realms of barely veiled insults when he thought it ‘stupid’ that any of the top four would pretend not to be in the title race.
Mourinho has been at pains to stress his team will not win the Premier League and that fixtures have conspired against Chelsea’s progress in Europe.
Wenger, having gone out of the Champions League to Bayern Munich, noted Chelsea’s route had been much gentler. ‘That was not very demanding against Galatasaray,’ he said. ‘They were in a comfort zone.’ It will always be thus with these arch rivals cast to represent a Premier League struggle between good and evil.
There is Mourinho in his relentless desire to win at all costs, rolling up his sleeves on Friday and spoiling for another anti-establishment fight to clear his name after being sent to the stands by Chris Foy last week and charged by the FA with improper conduct.
All too easy: Wenger has argued that Chelsea's passage to the quarter-finals in Europe was too comfortable
Welcome back: Galatasaray, and the returning Didier Drogba, didn't pose a threat at Stamford Bridge
End of the road: In contrast, Arsenal was knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich
Harsh? Wenger has been labelled a 'specialist in failure' by his arch rival Mourinho this year
‘In their eyes I am different,’ said Mourinho. ‘Nobody defends English football like me, but it is obvious there is a measure for some and a measure for me.’
While, at the same time, Wenger was being showered with tributes from all angles and urged to recount tales of yore from the days when he crossed the Channel as Arsene Who and saved the English game from gorging itself to death on lager and chocolate.
‘The players were chanting, “We want our Mars Bars”,’ said Wenger as he recalled his first game at Arsenal. ‘At half-time, nobody was talking and I asked our physio Gary Lewin what was wrong. He replied, “They’re hungry”.’
There have been three Premier League titles and four FA Cup wins but he rates 17 (and counting) top-four finishes as his finest achievement, particularly with the club financially stretched by the move to the Emirates Stadium.
At the double: Wenger changed the entire ethos surrounding the Gunners side of the 1990s
It has been a wonderful tenure, glorious at the start and admirable since, not least for the style of football his teams have stood for.
‘Maybe I ran after the idea of making the players perfect, having the perfect game,’ he said, aware that his last trophy came in game No 497, the FA Cup final in 2005.
‘In 2006, we were in the Champions League final,’ Wenger added. ‘Nobody speaks about it but it’s still an achievement. Can you say we failed that season? I don’t think so. We beat Real Madrid with Zidane and Beckham and it’s like we have done nothing because at the end of the season you don’t parade with the trophy.
Stunner: Thierry Henry's solo goal gave Arsenal a win over Real Madrid en route to a 2006 European final
Sensible: The boss has sacrificed a little adventure for solidity and has an eye on the title and FA Cup
‘The real goal entails not just winning but also enabling people to discover the pleasure of watching something beautiful.’
This year Arsenal may have sacrificed a little adventure for solidity but Wenger has an eye on the title and FA Cup. It would be the icing on the cake if he could win a trophy and extend the contract which expires this summer.
‘I want to stay,’ said the Frenchman, 65 later this year. ‘I do not want to look somewhere else. It will be done soon.’
As for the hundreds and thousands, Wenger said: ‘I am an idealist but not a fool. I am extremely passionate, maybe more than ever, but I have to accept the next thousand will be difficult.’
Tough place to go: The Gunners have struggled when playing at Stamford Bridge in years gone by
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