Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger can easily brush off Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho’s pre-season taunts, according to Martin Keown.
Former Arsenal defender Keown believes Mourinho knows full well Chelsea are in little position to accuse rivals of buying their way to the Premier League title given the Blues’ history of big-spending under owner Roman Abramovich.
Wenger has not beaten Mourinho in 13 meetings between the two managers, who will lock horns once more in today’s Community Shield.
Mourinho raised the stakes again by claiming by now he would have solved the problems dogging Wenger in his winless run against the Portuguese were their roles reversed.
Keown believes the latest jibes will be water off a duck’s back to Wenger, paling into insignificance alongside previous criticisms where Mourinho branded the French manager a “voyeur” and a “specialist in failure”.
“I think that’s just Mourinho being mischievous,” Keown said, of Mourinho hinting Arsenal were trying to spend their way to success.
“At the end of the day if Abramovich had not arrived at Chelsea they were in serious jeopardy of going bankrupt never mind achieving what they have.
“So they’ve bought themselves out of trouble, and where they are now is down to the financial reservoir that they have.
“So to accuse Arsenal of the same thing, buying their way to the top, is a bit of an ironic comment from Mourinho.
“I think he’s just being mischievous there. He has had a go at Wenger on more than one occasion, so this is quite light compared to some of the comments he’s made about him.
“So I think Arsene would probably be happy with that in relation to everything else!
“There wouldn’t be too many managers that could lay claim to the kind of record that Mourinho has against Wenger.
“Like any record that you have, when Arsenal went unbeaten for the whole season, you start to feel like invincible, and you’re never going to lose a game.
“And Jose will start to feel that way, and I’m sure such is his ego that he’ll feel that way about his team.
“But he prepares his team not to fail against Arsenal.
“And he’ll be doing that this weekend.
“He’s very proud of that record, it’s an outstanding record.
“Whether it’s a hang-up for Wenger I don’t think so, I think it’s more of a case of beating Chelsea.”
Keown won nine major trophies with Arsenal between 1993 and 2004, and now believes the Gunners will be in the running to claim this term’s Premier League crown.
“I think they’re in with a chance of winning the league,” said Keown.
“If you go into a new season it’s on your radar, it’s one of the goals you set yourself but nobody, not any of the groups are completely convinced they’re going to win it, no one knows. But it’s important to have the belief you can do it.”