We knew there was a reason that the Arsenal vs Tottenham was our favourite Premiership derby.
First, Wenger comes out and point blank says that Arsenal will beat Tottenham. Now, in an interview with The Telegraph, Martin Jol reveals the distaste he has for his French counterpart,
“We don’t speak,” Jol said yesterday. “He is not one of my mates. Chrisy [Hughton, the Spurs No 2] is my mate. Maybe Mourinho is close. We talk. Nine out of 10 managers I like.”
Good start, how about Wenger’s current struggle to get his club back on form? Is the gap closing?
“Do I pity him?” “Why should I do that? I don’t feel anything.”
“We have the same task as Wenger: to build a very good team. I feel pound for pound we are very close to other teams, but it’s about ‘specific quality’. I’m sure if we had, for example, Thierry Henry, we would probably be very close to any other team.
“If you want to be a top team you need one or two top players. Maybe Lennon or Berbatov could be that for us, but that is for the future.”
A good Premiership manager rivalry is hard to beat for entertainment value. Wenger vs Ferguson may be cooling off but with a nice fiery build up before Saturday and Spurs’ heavily disputed goal last time around, a few two footed lunges could ensure that Wenger vs Jol becomes just as feisty.