• Premier League

Mourinho: I don't owe Wenger apology

Jose Mourinho says he still doesn't feel the need to apologise to Arsene Wenger for calling him a "specialist in failure" last season.

The spat arose in February after Wenger said that some managers perhaps talked down their title chances because of a fear of failure.

Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger exchanged barbs last season © Getty Images

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Mourinho responded with his infamous barb and, ahead of Arsenal's visit to Stamford Bridge this Sunday, had claimed he hasn't received an apology either.

"I didn't get an apology. I don't apologise," Mourinho said. "My feeling about it is, to [get] over it... to forget it and to move forward without thinking about what happened, you don't need to apologise.

"Intelligent football people don't need that. Finish, move and let's go for another match with big responsibility for both of us.

"We manage two big clubs in London and we have the responsibility not to win, but to give a good match for the millions of fans both clubs have, and the billions of fans of the Premier League around the world, to have a big match with no problems."

Asked whether he regrets the comment, Mourinho said: "It was a consequence of something. It wasn't a deliberate first option to say something. It was a consequence of something."

Mourinho also denied that Chelsea would have any psychological advantage after last season's 6-0 victory.

"The 6-0 is once every 50 years, not year after year," he added. "It's something that happens occasionally.

"Me against Arsene Wenger, I never had the pleasure of playing one against one against him, in beach soccer or anything. I never had that pleasure. It was always between Chelsea and Arsenal, and even that doesn't play an important part of the game on Sunday.

"This game is out of that context. What happened in the past happened in the past. Can we win again? Yes we can. But it's a big match against a very good team, and a difficult one."

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