The manager of Tottenham Hotspur, Jose Mourinho has thrown a jab at Arsenal ahead of the North London derby which is scheduled to take place at Emirates Stadium on Sunday, March 14, 2021, at 17:30.
The Portuguese tactician has stressed that he doesn’t “look down” on their north London rivals because the club is below Tottenham Hotspur on the Premier League table. Jose Mourinho also stressed that he only looks to clubs above his team on the table.
Coach Mikel Arteta of Arsenal and Jose Mourinho will meet on Sunday for the second time in the Premier League this season. In their first meeting on December 6, 2020, Jose Mourinho and his boys ensured that Arsenal didn’t leave Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a point. The match ended 2-0 in favor of Spurs.
Though both teams are currently enjoying superb form in Europa League, they have been inconsistent in the Premier League. Despite the inconsistency of Spurs, they are ahead of Arsenal on the league table with 7 points.
Currently, Arsenal are occupying the 10th spot on the league table with 38 points in 27 games. While Tottenham Hotspur are occupying the 7th spot with 45 points in 27 games. Hence, Spurs are 5 points away from 4th placed Chelsea, while Arsenal are 12 points away.
“I look up, I don’t look down. If Arsenal was seven points ahead of us, I would look to them,” said Mourinho. “But because we have seven points more than them, I don’t look down.
“We look always to the next match. If instead of Arsenal it was Villa or Newcastle, the next matches we’re going to play [with] exactly the same feeling.
“We feel we’re better than the position we have in the table and we want to improve our position so we need points for that.
“It doesn’t matter the opponent, doesn’t matter if it is a London derby. It’s a Premier League match, three points are there to fight for and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
Meanwhile, the manager of Arsenal football club, Mikel Arteta has insisted that he didn’t rush his defensive midfielder, Thomas Partey, back from injury.
Partey joined Arsenal from Atletico Madrid last summer but has struggled to remain fit at the London club. He injured earlier in the season and came back early enough to feature in Arsenal’s league match against Tottenham in December.
The Ghanaian midfielder played just 47 minutes in the north London derby before he limped off the field and stayed out of football for about a month. He is currently available for Sunday’s game but the club’s coach was forced to clarify that he didn’t force the midfielder to return from injury ahead of Tottenham vs Arsenal game in December.
“No, because he ticked every box to be able to play in that game”, Arteta said.
“After every injury, there is a risk for a period, whether it is five days, a week, two weeks, or three weeks depending on the load that the player is exposed to.
“But it was a really specific action where he just overstretched the area going to the floor and got his foot trapped and then he felt it again. Before the game, you cannot know that would have been the way.
“It would be easy to say, ‘Yes, we made a mistake, but who would have known if he had played the next game or if he had come off the bench and played 30 minutes instead?”
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— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 12, 2021
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