Chelsea vs Arsenal: Arsene Wenger refuses to apologise for latest spat with Jose Mourinho
Incident occurred in Gunners' 2-0 loss at Stamford Bridge
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsene Wenger said he would not apologise for shoving old enemy Jose Mourinho in the Chelsea manager’s own technical area during today’s 2-0 defeat for Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.
Wenger and Mourinho had to be separated by fourth official Jonathan Moss and warned by referee Martin Atkinson as they squared up on the touchline following a bad tackle by Gary Cahill on Alexis Sanchez in the first half. Mourinho, who antagonised Wenger by flicking his tie, said he had stood his ground in his own technical area, which Wenger had encroached into.
Asked if he had any regrets about his actions, Wenger said: “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.” Wenger was asked where he considered “B” to be. He replied: “Sanchez, to see how badly he was injured.”
Mourinho said it was not a situation for which he could be held responsible. “To be fair, I do so many wrong things in football, sometimes you lose emotion, but not this time,” he said. “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, an important match for both teams.
“These conditions make a game of emotions. After that, there are two technical areas, one for me, one for him.
“He was coming into my technical area and not for the right reasons, to give some technical instructions. He was coming to push the referee for a red card and I didn’t like that. But I think Moss did a good job.”
Mourinho also shrugged off criticism that Chelsea medical staff made a mistake allowing goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to continue playing after he took a blow to his head in a collision with Sanchez.
Mourinho said: “I have no time to discuss [medical conditions during the game]. They [the medical staff] said yes at first, then after that no. I was just worried for the kid, not worried about the game or the performance.
“We have two of the three best keepers in the world, so when one is injured and comes off, no problem, no change in the team. I was so confident Petr would do a fantastic job for us.”
There was criticism from the former MLS player Taylor Twellman, who had to retire after concussion. He tweeted: “So you guys want me to be convinced the EPL Concussion Protocol has made a difference?! Courtois wasn’t evaluated properly.”
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