Arsene Wenger will take on Manchester United for the final time as Arsenal manager tomorrow, and this momentous occasion has inspired some unexpected, and very rare praise from Jose Mourinho. The current United and former Chelsea boss had a long standing feud with Wenger, but has now expressed an overt interest in working towards a more congenial relationship.
Since Wenger announced his retirement, Mourinho has made his strong respect for Wenger known verbally, expressed regret over their past rows and stated a desire to perhaps one day become friends with the Frenchman.
Arsene Wenger is prepared to bury the hatchet, but wouldn’t commit to much more than that for now. He didn’t want to give the media too much to work with at his weekly news conference, out of an understandable concern that they could twist his words.
“I respect him a lot, and I don’t want to go into individual [comments]. You should leave me a little bit of peace for my final weeks, and not try to push me into a final confrontation,” Wenger said.
“I want to go peacefully, with Mourinho as well because he’s a great manager.”
Wenger is looking to get through this match on Sunday without any added distraction of additional tension with Mourinho. While this is his Premier League farewell tour, he also wanted to make it clear that he could be back.
“I say goodbye to everybody. In France we say ‘au revoir,’ that means you might see me again,” Wenger said.
United FC Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Arsenal FC Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Injury and fitness report for both teams: go to this link
Odds via Odds Checker: United 6/13, Draw 50/13, Arsenal FC 15/2
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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