Arsenal manager Wenger downplays spat with Chelsea boss Mourinho ahead of

Gary Cahill believes Chelsea’s convincing 4-0 Champions League victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv has given the team the morale boost they desperately needed before they face Arsenal on Saturday at Stamford Bridge.

NEMANJA MATIC says Chelsea wanted to win more than Arsenal, spurring the Barclays Premier League champions to a 2-0 victory.

Mourinho notably appeared to snub a handshake with Wenger during the Community Shield, and the Portuguese has previously labelled Wenger a “voyeur” and a “specialist in failure”. I think all the players like playing with him.

Asked if he would shake Mourinho’s hand and whether he regretted their touchline bust-up, Wenger replied: “I don’t want to talk about that”. I’m not going to say it’s going to have an absolutely massive impact on the weekend, because it probably won’t. “I take care of my team and my own problems”. “If the people in Ghana keep supporting me I can make them proud”.

“It can happen”, he said.

“It is a big game but let’s not forget it is the start of the season“.

Unlike Arsenal, Chelsea recorded an emphatic win over Maccabi Tel Aviv on Wednesday night and were at home, thus Mourinho’s players are expected to be fresher than Wenger’s men.

“We must forget cheap excuses and focus on the performance of the day”.

“It will be of use because we’ll go into training in better spirits than we have been off the back of a win”, he told Chelsea’s official website.

The Blues, defending champions from last season, have won just once domestically so far this campaign and languish in 17th position, six points behind their bitter rivals. When in football you lose matches you are affected. These players have a strong mentality and want to put things right.

“I have no criticism about the performances of Branislav Ivanovic”.

Wenger has notoriously struggled against Mourinho, winning just one of the last 14 meetings between teams managed by the pair and that came in the Community Shield clash earlier this season at Wembley.