Arsenal’s acid test as champions elect travel to North London

Wenger has failed to beat Mourinho in 12 attempts but his side are in good form

LONDON: Chelsea's trip to Arsenal this Sunday is being billed as a Premier League title decider, but in reality it is likely to have more of a bearing on next season.

With 11 wins and two defeats since the turn of the year, Arsenal have amassed more points per game in 2015 than any other team in Europe's top five leagues but still trail Chelsea by 10 points.

Chelsea will be champions if they beat Arsenal and win at Leicester City on Wednesday, but even though defeat on Sunday would probably only delay their coronation, it could herald the start of a North London revolt.

Fixtures between Arsene Wenger's Arsenal and Jose Mourinho's Chelsea have traditionally represented a collision of competing ideologies, with Wenger the style-obsessed romantic and Mourinho the cold, hard pragmatist.

It had been a similar story last October, when Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-0 after enjoying less possession and mustering only five attempts at goal to their opponents' 10.

Wenger reacted to Mourinho's provocations that day by shoving the Portuguese in the chest during a touchline confrontation, and it was not the first time the Chelsea manager has got under the Frenchman's skin.

Speaking on Friday, Mourinho declared that Wenger was "not my rival", adding: "He's the manager of a big club in the same city where I work. It is a big club with the same objectives we have."

The hope, for Arsenal's fans, is that the savvy shown by their team in recent weeks will yield a transformative victory.

After years of parsimony, Arsenal can now compete with Chelsea for the game's star names — as demonstrated by the acquisitions of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez — and the gap may be closing on the pitch, too.

Arsenal have experienced an uncommon number of heavy losses to rivals in recent years — including a 6-0 annihilation by Chelsea last season — but belatedly, the penny appears to have dropped for Wenger.

With former fringe player Francis Coquelin anchoring the midfield, Arsenal have begun to beat their rivals in a fashion that even Mourinho might be moved to admire.

They had only 35 per cent of the possession in a 2-0 win at Manchester City in January and only 42 per cent in a 2-1 victory at Manchester United in the FA Cup last month.

And with Ozil, Sanchez, Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla supplying the bullets for Olivier Giroud, they can still put teams to the sword, as shown by the 4-1 victory over Liverpool three weeks ago.

"We know we have passed many tests recently where we were questioned," says Wenger, whose side have won their last nine games in all competitions. "It's the first time we've won away from home against Manchester City (since 2010) and other things like that. We have passed many tests and we have another on Sunday that we want to pass."

 

Spurs keep Saints in check despite Pelle brace

Tottenham Hotspur remain a point above Southampton in the Premier League's Europa League qualifying race after twice cancelling out goals by Graziano Pelle in a 2-2 draw on Saturday.

Pelle exploited mistakes by Ryan Mason and Ben Davies to poke hosts Southampton in front in the 29th minute, but Erik Lamela equalised just before half-time when Eric Dier's cross hit his arm and flew past Kelvin Davis.

Pelle restored the visitors' lead with a thumping header from substitute Shane Long's cross 20 minutes into the second half, only for Nacer Chadli to level five minutes later after running onto a pass from Dier.

Tottenham head coach Mauricio Pochettino, making his first return to St Mary's since leaving Southampton last year, saw his side move a point above Liverpool and into fifth place in the table.

Southampton also stole above Liverpool, on goal difference, but Brendan Rodgers's side now have two games in hand on both Southampton and Spurs, starting with a trip to West Bromwich Albion later on Saturday.

 

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