Monday 17 August 2015 07:34, UK
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has taken the chance to have another dig at Arsene Wenger's record as Arsenal manager.
Attention returns to the pitch on Sunday after a week of intense scrutiny and criticism regarding the Portuguese's handling of team doctor Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn.
The second match of Chelsea's Premier League title defence, live on Sky Sports 1, is a trip to runners-up Manchester City, who recently handed manager Manuel Pellegrini a surprise new two-year contract.
Mourinho was asked about City's faith in their boss who won the league title in his first season at the Etihad, only to lead his team to a disappointing 2014/15 campaign.
"Why?" Mourinho said. "Some other clubs, they have disappointed for 15 years and the manager is the same."
It appeared to be more criticism of the Arsenal manager, who the Portuguese last year labelled a "specialist in failure".
The Gunners have secured back-to-back FA Cups but not won the league since the invincible campaign of 2003/04.
The fact Wenger was unable to follow Arsenal's dominance that season by retaining the Premier League crown underlines Mourinho's belief that doing so is one of the hardest things in football.
"When you win one, it's more difficult to win it twice," he added. "Why has no team won the Champions League twice in a row?
"You win the title in a country where you are almost lonely or the opposition doesn't reach the level - you win once, two times, three times, four times, no problem.
"You do it because the other teams have no conditions to react. You win the Champions League, how many teams can react to the fact that they did not win the Champions League? A lot of them can react.
"In the Premier League, if you win the title how many teams are able to react against that? A lot of them can react."
City are reportedly close to spending around £50m on former Chelsea man Kevin de Bruyne, which Mourinho says is a result of the west Londoners' success.
"Yes, because we were champions," he said. "Because in the same way the season before Man City pushed us in the same direction.
"We did sell - David Luiz, Juan Mata, Kevin De Bruyne - we did sell very good players to raise funds to make our investments. We did that.
"It's not like buy, buy, buy, buy, then sell. We buy and we sell and use the conditions between the money we spend and the money we get. It is fantastic the way Chelsea is doing this right."
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