Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho played down his rivalry with Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger, while also claiming that Cesc Fabregas chose to join his side because he was looking for titles.
Mourinho insisted that his famously fractious relationship with Wenger would not be an issue, even making light of their recent flare-ups.
In the last meeting between the sides, a 2-0 win, the Arsenal coach pushed Mourinho on the touchline. When jokingly asked about teams not really pushing Chelsea in the title race, and whether Wenger pushed him harder, Mourinho laughed and offered a thumbs-up.
"He deserves a proper answer," he said. "Top question. But because I'm always honest in my answers, I cannot answer."
Mourinho, who has never lost a game to Wenger in 12 games, insisted that he did not have a personal rivalry with the Frenchman.
"For me, he's not my rival [in terms of hostility between the two]. I don't feel that," he said. "He's a manager of a big club in the same city where I work and live. A big club with the same objectives that we have in the competitions we play. With that comes a bit of rivalry.
"But it's not different for me with the Milan manager when I was at Inter, or the Atletico manager when I was at Real and with Benfica when I was at Porto.... no problems."
Mourinho also refused to go into details on the nature of their relationship, saying: "I don't describe... It's not important. The only thing that matters on Sunday is the football game. That's the only thing that matters. What I wish is that Chelsea, Arsenal and play to be top I respect everyone."
One of the latest points of contention between the two coaches came last summer, when it was expected that Arsenal might look to lure Fabregas back to the Emirates, only for Chelsea to somewhat surprisingly secure his signature from Barcelona.
Mourinho was asked how that came about and said it was down to the midfielder's thirst for success.
"I know why he chose Chelsea," Mourinho said of Fabregas. "I don't know why he didn't choose Arsenal. I can only speak about what we promised him. I can't talk about the decision for him leaving Arsenal, or what stopped him going back. I don't know if it was the manager's or his decision.
"I just promised him we'd build a team very adapted to his style of play. That he was going to be an important player in our project. And that, normally, good projects end with titles. He was looking for that. That's all I can say."
When asked whether Fabregas would receive a bad reaction at the Emirates, Mourinho insisted that he wasn't concerned.
"I don't know... and to be fair, I'm not worried with that. Frank Lampard played at Stamford Bridge without any kind of problem and with a good reception," he added. "I don't see a reason for Fabregas not to have the same at the Emirates but, if he has some bad reactions, I think he's one of the players who is more than ready.
"He played in Barcelona with an Arsenal shirt. Why can't he play at the Emirates with a Chelsea shirt? No problem."