London: Arsene Wenger has refused to apologise and is adamant he has no regrets about pushing Jose Mourinho after claiming that the angry stand-off was provoked by the Chelsea manager confronting him.
The latest unsavoury clash between the Premier League’s two most senior managers occurred only 20 minutes into Sunday match, when Wenger reacted with fury to a Gary Cahill tackle on Alexis Sanchez.
Wenger then came marching into Mourinho’s technical area, with the Chelsea manager standing to signal that his rival should return to his own area. Wenger reacted by twice pushing at Mourinho’s chest, although the Frenchman described the force of his actions as minimal.
“You would see if I really try to push,” Wenger said. “Come on. I trust you to teach me all the moral lessons in the next two weeks. I can accept that.”
Asked if he was saying there was no push, the Arsenal manager said: “A little one.”
Wenger then said that Cahill should have been sent off and was asked if he regretted his behaviour. “No. What is there to regret? I wanted to go from A to B and somebody confronted me before B without any sign of welcome.”
So where was B? “Sanchez, to see how badly he was injured.”
The two managers were separated by fourth official Jonathan Moss before being called together by the referee Martin Atkinson and warned that they would both be sent off if there were any more problems.
Steve Bould, Arsenal’s assistant manager, also appeared to mouth the words “shut your gob” to Mourinho’s assistant Rui Faria.
The two managers did not shake hands after the match and Wenger was asked what Mourinho had said to him when they were squared up. “Honestly, I don’t listen to what he says,” he said.
With Atkinson having dealt with the incident at the time, the Football Association is unlikely to bring any disciplinary charges.
Mourinho, who has previously called Wenger a “voyeur” and “specialist in failure”, was relatively conciliatory about the latest episode in their feud.
“There are two technical areas,” the Chelsea manager said. “One for me, one for him. He was coming into my technical area and not for the right reasons. He was coming to push the referee for a red card, and I didn’t like that. I just told him: ‘Leave my technical area and don’t come back please’.
“But, to be fair, I do so many wrong things in football. Sometimes you lose emotion but not this time. This time I was just in my technical area and it was not my problem.
“It becomes heated because it’s a big game, big clubs, big rivals and an important match for both teams. I think these conditions make a game of emotions. Story over. No problem. No outstanding issues.”
Wenger also felt Oscar was lucky to stay on the pitch after repeated deliberate fouls and felt that his team were denied a penalty for a handball by Cesc Fabregas. Mourinho said his team dealt with Arsenal “without problems” and claimed that the match was “in the pocket” after Eden Hazard’s 27th-minute goal.
