Antonio Conte has insisted his relationship with Jose Mourinho isn't important as the Chelsea manager prepares to meet his Manchester United counterpart at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Conte, who was appointed as Mourinho's permanent successor last year, clashed on the touchline with the Portuguese coach during Chelsea's 1-0 FA Cup quarter-final home win in March.
Earlier in the season when Mourinho made his first return to Stamford Bridge since being sacked by the club, the United manager spoke to Conte on the touchline after Chelsea secured a 4-0 win and criticised the Italian of trying to humiliate him.
Following those incidents, Conte insisted on Friday that his relationship with the United manager doesn't matter but did say Mourinho must respect his role as the new Chelsea boss.
"It's not important, the relationship between the coaches," Conte told reporters at Cobham. "You have to respect the job of the other coach, and then stop then.
"I don't like to speak about other situations. I respect the job, but that stops, finish: he's an opponent, and I'm an opponent for him. He's an opponent, I stop, finish. I have respect for his job. He must have respect for my job."
He added on Mourinho wanting revenge for those two losses at Stamford Bridge last season: "Don't forget that they won 2-0 in the second game at home.
"Every coach, every player, every team wants to win. Not for revenge, but because you need to win."
United currently sit in second place in the Premier League table, four points above champions Chelsea and go into their game at Stamford Bridge having beaten Benfica 2-0 in the Champions League - while Conte's side went down 3-0 to Roma.
In Pictures | Roma vs Chelsea | 31/10/2017
Conte admitted that United will be a tough prospect to beat on Sunday because of the team's physical strength but insisted that Manchester City's fine form means every team is under pressure to play catch up to Pep Guardiola's side.
He said: "We are talking about a really good team [Manchester United]. A strong team, physically. It will be very difficult, this type of game. It's an important team and we must pay great attention. But we are working. We are working to prepare this game in the right way. But I think that United is a really good team.
"There is a big problem for all the teams that want to fight for the title, and this big problem is Manchester City. I think this is the big problem for all the teams who are thinking about fighting for the title.
"If they continue in this way, it will be very difficult to fight for the title. But, for sure, we have to try to do our best in every game. I think that, until now, we deserve to have this (number of) points.”
He added: "When you play against Manchester United, City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham... I think it's always a big game. I think this type of game must excite the players, to play in a fantastic atmosphere, to play and to know that the game... that a lot of people will watch the game in the whole world. Yes. I think it's a really big game."