ARSENAL MANAGER ARSENE Wenger admits that he pushed Chelsea counterpart Jose Mourinho “a little” during their Premier League clash on Sunday but has no regrets over his behaviour.
Laurent Koscielny, Calum Chambers and Danny Welbeck were all arguably fortunate not to be given their marching orders by referee Martin Atkinson during a 2-0 victory for the Blues, while Gary Cahill’s aggressive challenge on Alexis Sanchez sparked an altercation between the two managers on the touchline during the first half.
Wenger entered Mourinho’s technical area and laid his hands on the Portuguese’s chest before Atkinson called both coaches over to calm tempers.
The Frenchman explained his actions in a post-match press conference and was unequivocal in his response when asked if he regretted the incident. “No,” he replied. “What is to regret after that?
“I wanted to go from A to B and somebody confronted me in between without any sign of welcome. B was Sanchez, to see how badly he was injured. Honestly, I don’t listen to what [Mourinho] says.”
Wenger conceded that he had pushed Mourinho “a little” and felt that some of Chelsea’s players were perhaps fortunate not to be sent off.
“I think Oscar was lucky to stay on the pitch with the repeated fouls he made,” he argued.
“He got a yellow card in the 88th minute and he was purposefully fouling on every break. [Branislav] Ivanovic as well. There were some bad fouls but that’s down to the referee, it’s not down to me.”
Defeat saw Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the league campaign come to an end but Wenger feels that there was little to choose between the two teams.
The Frenchman added: “It was down to the little things that were on their side but it was a very even game.
“If you look at the number of saves our keeper had made, you find nothing, and theirs as well — so the game was about who can take advantage of an opportunity. We couldn’t score and they did so, at the end of the day, you have to say yes, [Chelsea were more ruthless].”
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