Title threat posed by Arsenal making Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho delirious

Wenger and Mourinho had to be kept apart after an altercation during a league match last year

José Mourinho is always a wily one, a magician who has mastered many of the world's darker arts. Success has come to him time and again proving, if nothing else, that ends justify means.

However, ahead of the Community Shield match on Sunday, which will pit Chelsea against Arsenal, his attempt at mind games offers a peek into the psyche of a man perhaps more worried than ever about losing to his rival, both in the upcoming match as well as in the Premier League season that is about to kick-off.

That his comments reveal a hypocritical lack of self-awareness is another issue for another day (or, failing that, another paragraph). Pointing out that Arsenal have spent nearly £130m on transfer fees in last three years, Mourinho is understandably concerned about the threat Arsenal poses to his hegemony.

Chelsea, of course, have spent almost about £195m in the same period (to say nothing of similarly astronomical spending prior to Mourinho's return to Stamford Bridge). So it's a bit curious to hear Mourinho fret about Arsenal's spending. Here's what he had to say:

If you add up the amounts clubs have spent in the last three or four years, I think maybe you will find a surprise. If you put Özil plus Alexis Sánchez, plus Chambers, plus Debuchy, you will find a surprise. It’s a fantastic squad with good players, fantastic goalkeeper, they are more than ready to be a title contenders.

Rarely has Mourinho been so effusive in his praise of Arsenal. Credit the man for showing a bit of class when he must be more than a bit butt-hurt at having been overruled regarding where Petr ?ech would end up.

Much as he refused to sell Demba Ba to Arsenal after they brought Mesut Özil, he wanted to send ?ech anywhere but Arsenal. Roman Abramovich, in recognition of the goal keeper’s long service to the club, honoured the man's wishes to stay in London. I don't slight Ba in any way by suggesting that ?ech means more than he would have to our aspirations.At a broader level, Chelsea have reigned in their relentless spending, with just £10.8m being made use of in the transfer window so far (with Falcao joining on a season-long loan). That's just a tick more than what Arsenal have spent—£9.8m, although that was for ?ech, making it a bit more momentous.

I wouldn't suggest that ?ech to Arsenal surpasses Cesc Fàbregas to Chelsea, but there is something in it all the same. They're no longer a selling club. In fact, many are starting to wonder whether there's a place in their XI for players previously presumed to be mainstays.

Szcz?sny has been loaned out. Gibbs sits behind Monreal. Ramsey and Wilshere have to play out of their preferred positions. That kind of competition can't really be quantified – nor, paradoxically, the obvious chemistry in the squad. No longer is that chemistry disrupted by egos or departures. No wonder Mourinho is worried.Looking ahead to the Community Shield, Mourinho finds himself in a bit of a no-win position. Win and everyone will write it off as a meaningless, glorified pre-season friendly. Lose, and all bets are off – Arsène ends his thirteen-match winless streak against Mourinho. The Arsenal squad slay another demon and go into the 2015/16 season invigorated and confident.

Comparing to last season's Community Shield, in which Arsenal defeated Man City 3-1 at the Etihad and went on to draw at home, the news would multiply at a rate that would embarrass rabbits. If he fields a full-strength XI, he reveals his paranoia, win or lose. His best bet might lie in fielding a weak one, full of youth players (does Chelsea even have youth players?Perhaps...).Coming back to the Premier League, considering that Arsenal recovered from its worst start in three decades while Chelsea invited premature comparisons to the Invincibles, the Prince of Darkness might actually be quaking in his boots. If he's playing mind-games, he's doing it with himself.