Jose Mourinho admits he would like to sign EVERY Arsenal player – as long as they were FREE.
Chelsea manager Mourinho delivered another backhanded compliment by claiming Arsenal have got a squad good enough to be champions.
But, as he often reminds us, the Gunners have not won the Premier League title in 11 years — and all the evidence at Stamford Bridge on Saturday suggested the wait will go on for at least another season.
Because when the going gets tough, Mourinho gets the job done and Arsenal fall short.
Diego Costa was the arch-villain using all the dark arts to wind up Arsenal – and it worked. Chelsea reeled Arsenal in – the visitors finished the game with nine men after Gabriel and Santi Cazorla were sent off – and got a result which will get their season underway.
In pictures — Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal:
Arsenal, meanwhile, were left licking their wounds after an all-too-predictable defeat when pretty play and lovely footballers count for nothing.
It makes you wonder whether Mourinho could turn this Arsenal squad into champions again, especially as he has such a remarkable hold over Arsene Wenger.
Wenger’s record against Mourinho is shocking with just one win in 15 attempts — and that was last month in the Community Shield which is, after all, a pre-season friendly.
Mourinho has the edge over Wenger, even forcing him to shake hands – which the Arsenal manager undoubtedly didn’t want to do – by waiting for him by the tunnel before kick-off.
And now he’s even got the moral high ground.
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Arsenal have the talent, the quality makes even Mourinho jealous, but the Special One’s views on Arsenal could also be seen as a putdown.
After all, claiming they should be champions also suggests they have been under-performing.
“I think Arsenal has the squad to be champions,” said Mourinho. “And every season I feel that.”
So why aren’t they?
“I don’t know. But that’s my feeling. I like every player.”
If you were manager of Arsenal?
“I am not. I am not. I just tell you that I like every player. I tell you if one of their players is a free agent and they don’t want him there, I get every one.
"I like all of their players.”
So, who at Arsenal would get into the champions' team?
Petr Cech? No, otherwise they wouldn’t have let him go.
The full-backs? Possibly. Although Nacho Monreal wouldn’t with the way he played on Saturday.
Chelsea are after a centre-half, Mourinho loves the pace of Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, has said before that he rates Mesut Ozil as the best No 10 in the world and Alexis Sanchez is a world class talent.
Arsenal couldn’t allow Francis Coquelin to leave. After all, he’s the only defensive midfielder at the club and his knee injury is now a major worry — but that only highlights the stupidity of not signing another midfielder in the summer.
Wenger was told by people around him at the club that he should buy another midfielder and Southampton's Morgan Schneiderlin was on the market. But he refused to listen and Schneiderlin went to Manchester United instead.
There is a stubbornness there which may undermine Arsenal’s ambitions this season and ultimately be the reason why they fall short in the title race.
You can bet that Chelsea will now build on this result and Mourinho knows that, despite being public enemy No 1 and their resident pantomime villain, Costa typifies the win-at-all-costs philosophy which runs through all of his teams.
Referee Mike Dean had a poor game, failing to spot Costa’s other offences — the slap in Laurent Koscielny’s face, the argy-bargy between Costa and Gabriel, a flailing arm and scratch-marks down Gabriel’s neck.
But somehow it was Arsenal who finished with nine men and Chelsea with 11.
Kurt Zouma opened the scoring when unmarked after Gabriel had been sent off and his replacement Calum Chambers deflected Eden Hazard’s shot into his own net.
Mourinho insisted he likes Costa’s antics even if everyone around the whole club regularly refer to him as a “nutter.”
That’s probably a badge of honour to him.
Mourinho said: “It’s difficult to play against him. It’s difficult to play against Rooney. It’s difficult to play against Benteke. It’s difficult to play against Suarez. It’s difficult to play against Higuain.
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“It’s difficult to play against people with this aggression. But it’s because of these players that football is what football is and with so much passion around, because they create passion.
“The opponents have to keep emotional control, because to play against an attacking player that is aggressive, that goes to every ball, that fights for every ball, that is physical, it’s difficult.
“I saw some things back in the team, some qualities, but the same way two defeats don’t kill a team, I don’t think two victories bring the team to the top. Let’s go match after match and try to get a result Wednesday.”