Opinion: Wenger learning from past failings as he looks to finally get the better of Mourinho
Their rivalry seems, in Premier League terms, as old as the hills – a strangely reassuring constant that, no matter the precise form in which it reappears, has risen to the top of the news agenda reliably for the best part of a decade.
Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger get the box office buzzing again on Saturday lunchtime but the tone of this renewed acquaintance is different from much of what has gone before, and doubly so.
If a triumvirate of Mourinho, Manchester United and Wenger were mentioned at most points in recent years, there would only be one fall guy – but this time, Wenger is by most measures the man on top.
The "specialist in failure", as his adversary termed him two and a half years ago, now manages a team that sits six points that of Mourinho and has already qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League – a competition in which Mourinho has no interest for at least the next nine months.
It is some turnaround in fortunes, even if it has not quite seen a deluge of silverware head to north London, and although Wenger is yet to win a competitive fixture against Mourinho it is he who exudes freshness and vitality when the pair are pitched side by side this weekend.
Wenger, so long cast as an idealist whose footballing vision verged upon unimpeachable dogma, has shown a capacity to adapt that threatens to leave his one-time nemesis in the shade. It is visible both in the structural composition of his squad and in its approach to matches.
Arsenal's most recent Premier League game, the home draw with Tottenham, is a handy example of the latter: it is rare that Arsenal see less of the ball than any opponent, particularly at home, but in Santi Cazorla's absence Wenger accepted that his team might not control possession in the centre of the park and instead set store in quick transitions to two wingers, Theo Walcott and Alex Iwobi. Tottenham, for whom Mousa Dembele ran things in midfield, saw 54% of the ball and Arsenal's best periods came through quick breaks after Francis Coquelin and Granit Xhaka had won possession.
Wenger, it appeared, had understood that a horse would be required for a certain course.
Many will argue that it has taken long enough, but Wenger is learning from past failings to a degree that appears to be escaping Mourinho.
For the first time since the William Gallas-Kolo Toure partnership that, had Arsenal not disintegrated after Eduardo's injury at Birmingham, might have been good enough to win the league title in 2008 they have a duo of reliable, athletic centre-backs – Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny – who can operate higher up the pitch.
In Xhaka they have a player whose early form has been variable but fits the profile demanded for occasions like that attritional north London derby. In the deployment of Alexis Sanchez up front they have a mobile, versatile striker in the modern mould who can drop in to assist the midfield but, in turn, lead a press with intensity. The totemic figure of Olivier Giroud looks unlikely to become first-choice spearhead again.
Arsenal now have a flexibility and fleet of foot that makes Mourinho's options seem cumbersome. With Mourinho, the regularity of headline glare can sometimes distract from analysis of his process yet the problems he appears to fuel from within surely do no good. His criticisms of Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling have looked all the more awkward given both are genuinely ailing; it did not seem overly wise to pan his side's approach to their Europa League defeat at Fenerbahce so openly, either.
When this season's United do overcome a test it smacks more of individual excellence from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba or Juan Mata than any obvious schema. Mourinho inherited a mess but his continued reliance on Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney, along with an apparent reluctance to field Marcus Rashford down the middle, gives little suggestion that he is working on anything more dynamic for the longer term.
Perhaps Wenger, around whose job there appears to be less noise than at any point in the last five years, simply has the clearer head for a long-term strategy. He will argue that he has always thought this way, although Arsenal's turnover of mediocrity between 2008 and 2013 suggested more a treading of water in the aftermath of the move from Highbury.
There is no hangover for him from an unseemly episode such as that involving Mourinho and Eva Carneiro; there are no stories in the press about his dissatisfaction with living arrangements. The fug that surrounded Wenger as he fought to maintain Arsenal's relevance now appears far more thickly over Saturday's opposite number.
Mourinho, of course, will never go without a fight and his tendency to get one over Wenger – even when the odds seem against it – cannot go unnoticed. "I think Mr Wenger has that respect [from the media] but I don't think I have," he said on the eve of the game. "My last title was 18 months ago, not 18 years ago, but I don't feel I have that respect." He may still edge a contest based on recent history between the two, but whatever he achieved 18 months ago will feel far less relevant if Wenger confirms at Old Trafford that he is now the dominant force.