- A new year has brought Arsene Wenger no respite from his usual demons - and then there is Sir Alex Ferguson.
Poor results, injuries, mega-rich rivals and perceived injustices still torture Wenger. 'I don't stay sane,' he joked as he prepared once more to tackle Ferguson's Manchester United.
'He will manage until he dies and I think he'll be 100,' added the Arsenal boss.
The idea of 30 more years of Fergie at United will send a shiver through many managers.
The last time these old foes met, the Gunners were thrashed 8-2.
'Emotionally it was very difficult but it was not a final,' said Wenger.
'We still had another 35 games to play. It was three points lost in a humiliating way but you can come back. If you lose the final of the Champions League, it has another meaning.
'We were weak on the day but people forget we conceded four in the last 20 minutes with 10 men and had played for our lives a few days earlier in Udinese in terrific heat. We came back almost exhausted.'
In five months since, Arsenal have recovered well, only to lose at Fulham and Swansea and slip out of the Barclays Premier League's top four since New Year's Day.
If today's results go against them, they could kick off tomorrow in seventh, seven points adrift of the Champions League places.
Chairman Peter Hill-Wood claimed this week it will not be a disaster if they were to miss out on Europe's elite competition for the first time in 15 years, but his manager disagrees.
'For me it would be,' said Wenger. 'I want to play with the best and we want to be in there - in the top four - and to play in the Champions League. Anything else would not be good enough.'
This from someone who, earlier this season, insisted the only way he would quit the Emirates was if he felt he had not done well enough. Wenger's appetite remains, judging by his efforts to deflect the blame for the last two defeats on to injuries and referees.
His list of absent players will be in double figures against United if Thomas Vermaelen or Thierry Henry fail pre-match tests on calf strains.
'We are in a worse situation than anyone on the injury front,' said Wenger.
'I would not have believed it if you'd told me in August that we would be in January and Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby have played zero games.'
Contentious decisions eat away, too, and he turned the clock back to September 2003 and the start of the 'Invincibles' season to drive home a point about Swansea's penalty on Sunday, awarded for a foul on Nathan Dyer.
Wenger said: 'Robert Pires once dived against Portsmouth and for six months it was a story in the newspapers.
Dyer dived and nobody said a word. If it doesn't matter when Dyer dives why does it matter when Pires dives?
'There's no conspiracy but you want the right decisions to be made. If one day you manage a club or you're chairman of a club you would feel exactly the same.
'It is a life where you need a certain distance from the emotion of the game and you learn that with experience but you have to be involved emotionally because it's part of your job.'
Wenger put his emotion aside after the 8-2 defeat and watched his usual re-run within 24 hours of the final whistle.
It was painful, he admits, but he insists there is no quest for revenge.
He may be eight years younger than Ferguson but he has learned not to measure himself against the Scot.
'My motivation is to win this game,' Wenger said with a smile.
'I will never beat his record. To last the longest is not a record.
'I will never retire. I will work for sure. I wouldn't like to get up in the morning with nothing to do.
'Maybe I will do a different job and not be out there with the football team every day.
'We have to consider we are in a job where we need our physical strength and health. That weakens the older you get, I've heard.'
- Arsenal captain Robin van Persie has made it clear he wants to win trophies.
Arsenal's shock 3-2 defeat at Swansea last weekend has badly dented their hopes of a top-four finish but leading scorer Van Persie is still optimistic.
And he is also desperate to land some elusive silverware after a barren six years.
The Dutchman said: "I am not giving up on making the Champions League places, no way at all. And hopefully by beating United we can prove that to everyone. We are also still in this season's Champions League and the FA Cup, too, so there's plenty of opportunities left for us this season.
"And do you know what?" Van Persie paused, then leaned forward. "I would trade every one of my goals this season to bring a trophy back to the Emirates."
- Arsenal captain Robin van Persie insists Manchester United will face a different team tomorrow.
The Gunners are out for revenge for their 8-2 thrashing at United earlier this season.
"The last thing I want to do is make excuses. That game was played, we cannot erase that from history," Van Persie said.
"Since I have been playing for Arsenal we have never been defeated like that. It is never nice to lose, we gave it our all that day but it simply was not good enough. I am going to be honest. To lose like that, by that scoreline, hurts, really hurts.
"But that is now history and all of us are really looking forward to this Sunday's match. In football you will always get another chance to set things straight again. We want to do this for the team spirit and mainly for our fans.
"We will never forget how great their support was before, during and after that game. The fans out there that day were amazing, they showed us the ultimate support. We want to make amends for them.
"There is no doubt that the game against United is a big one for our season but all games are important.
"We're still in the title race and, with 17 games to go, we just have to take it game by game and give it our all every time we step out on the pitch."
- Arsenal captain Robin van Persie says he'd swap his amazing scoring record for a trophy.
For the record he has hit 22 for the Gunners so far this season.
It is actually 26 all told, if you count the four he got for Holland in their 11-0 thrashing of San Marino.
So would he really swap all of those for one winner's medal?
Van Persie insisted: "I honestly would. I know my goals record is pretty good and I'm proud of that but I would not have achieved this without the help from all of my team-mates.
"But to have success at this club would be so special and far more reason for me to feel proud.
"This is a team game, it's not about individuals or individual records.
"It's about being successful as a group, as a team and that's what I want more than anything."
- Arsenal skipper Robin van Persie loved Thierry Henry's glorious comeback for their FA Cup win over Leeds United.
Van Persie was watching from the stands and, just like every Arsenal fan and every football fan, was overjoyed as he watched Henry roll back the years to strike a trademark goal and win the game forArsenal in a way that he has throughout his career.
The Gunners skipper said: "What an unbelievable moment Thierry's goal was — it gave me goosebumps.
"During the game I said to my wife that it'd be a classic occasion for Thierry to come on and score the only goal. When it happened, neither of us could believe our eyes.
"It was a magical night and one that every Arsenal fan will always remember. Everything just came together and created a great evening for all of us that love this club.
"I think it was a unique occasion for Thierry, too. His whole career has been about focus, doing the job, scoring the goals and then doing it again in the next game, perhaps not really stopping to enjoy the moment because he was operating like a machine.
"He told me that, for one of the first times in his career, he really enjoyed it and took it in. It was lovely to hear that and don't forget what a good goal it was.
"He had two opponents to his right, so you'd expect a player in that situation to move the ball to the left. But Thierry did what great players do — the opposite of what most people would attempt.
"He took the ball on to his right foot, used the limited space that he had and produced a special finish."
- Mikel Arteta admits Manchester United’s thrashing of Arsenal earlier this season weighed heavily on the players.
Arsene Wenger responded to the United mauling by signing Arteta from Everton for £10million just three days later.
The Spanish midfield man, 29, said: "Of course the rout at Old Trafford was very, very painful for the team.
"I could see that clearly in the players' faces when I joined.
"But we did not lose belief. We kept our confidence and told ourselves we could still get out of trouble.
"It worked well because the philosophy of the team improved and then so did our results.
"It was also just a few days before the transfer window closed and it prompted the club to act by signing new players, including myself."
- Arsenal midfielder Andrey Arshavin insists they don't fear Manchester United.
The Gunners will be thirsting for revenge after their 8-2 humiliation at Old Trafford in August — their heaviest-ever Premier League defeat.
Russian midfielder Arshavin said: "They are very strong but at home we can beat everyone too and I hope we will do it.
"If we play well we don't mind what form they are in.
"I don't think we play differently at home, we just try to play in our own style.
"Of course, at the Emirates you feel the supporters more and teams are more scared. I think it's easier to play at home.
"Man United started the season very well.
"They seemed very far from everybody else but at the moment they are not. Manchester City are above them."
- Mikel Arteta feels Arsenal are better with Thierry Henry on the pitch.
Henry could make his first appearance against Manchester United since scoring in a 2-1 triumph five years ago.
Arteta said: "It's so much better to have Thierry as a team-mate than playing against him.
"Never before or since has an opposition player made me feel such an inferiority complex on a football pitch.
"He was that good."
- Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger feels there isn't too much wrong with English football's development system.
Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas and Everton's David Moyes says there are problems.
But Wenger insists: "Then the biggest problem that they want to sort out here is for players between 18 and 21, the integration into the first team.
"It would give you a better indication of how competitive a player can be at a certain level if you can put him somewhere.
"We give our players out on loan to the lower leagues and that is not bad as well because they learn how to cope with different environments and if they manage to convince people that they can play in there they come back."
Wenger feels the forthcoming overhaul of the Premier League's Academy system should aid player development, adding: "They will create an Under-21 league with all the best teams in England together, that I find quite interesting."
