Friday 24 April 2015 13:04, UK
Arsene Wenger has played down his previous encounters with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, insisting Sunday's game is all about the players.
Arsenal were thrashed 6-0 at Stamford Bridge in Wenger's 1,000th match in charge last season and he and Mourinho had to be separated when they clashed on the touchline when Chelsea secured a 2-0 victory in the Premier League in
October.
Wenger was branded a "specialist in failure" by Mourinho, but the Gunners boss is keen to stress it will not be all about the men in the dugout this weekend.
"It is not a confrontation (between managers), it is a confrontation of two teams," he said.
"Football is down to the fact that the performance on the day will decide the game and the result, so let's focus on that."
Chelsea travel to the Emirates 10 points clear of Arsenal and, with just six games left in the season, are close to securing their first title since 2010.
Wenger is yet to beat Mourinho in 12 attempts but the Frenchman is confident of changing that following Arsenal’s excellent recent run of form that has yielded eight straight league wins.
Asked about poor results against Mourinho in past seasons, and this weekend’s match in general, Wenger added: “I am not a great believer in history. We have not always lost in 12 attempts and a few times have been close to beating them.
“But, having said that, the result on Sunday will be just down to the performance on the day.
“We’re on a good run and from a good run of form you get good belief. We have a strong solidarity too.
“We know we have passed many tests. We’ve beaten Manchester City away from home and we have another test on Sunday that we want to pass.
“What we require is to nullify Chelsea’s strengths. If you look at the numbers they have been very efficient on counter-attacks, very efficient on set-pieces.”
And Wenger believes Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and his own Alexis Sanchez have been the leading stars of the 2014/15 season.
We have not always lost in 12 attempts and a few times have been close to beating them.
He went on: "It's either Alexis Sanchez or Eden Hazard for Player of the Year. Alexis has come into English football and has adapted very well.
"It's his first season so he will compete very closely with Hazard for Player of the Year.
"Everybody would agree that he's (Hazard) had a great season. He's found maturity that he didn't have before."
And if Arsenal do reduce the gap on leaders Chelsea to seven points, can the Gunners still win the title?
Wenger said: “Mathematically possible. But Chelsea have the championship in their hands but what we can do is get closer to them.
“We have an opportunity to do that at home and we want to take it. We want to strengthen our position in second because it’s far from being done.”
Watch Arsenal v Chelsea live on Sky Sports 1 HD this Sunday. Coverage begins at 3:30pm.
