text: I hope when you were sitting at home in front of your tellies  looking forward to the latest instalment of the Arsene vs Jose show that you remembered all important thing: this classic managerial match-up is no capital club sprint, it’s a London derby marathon. And yes, it might well have been entertaining to see the pair - one dressed as a clown, say, and the other a superhero - having it out on the streets while Crammy and Brendan told us some fascinating facts about historical landmarks. Perhaps they can do that next year? This year, instead, once the actual race was run, all roads led to the Emirates and a Sky Sports team all set to act as pacemaker for the afternoon. Arsene Wenger has a look in the direction of Jose Mourinho during the stalemate at the Emirates . And, yes, of course they did bother to point out that there also happened to be an important game of football going on. One with the added factor of Cesc Fabregas happening to be the man in the middle, on a couple of levels. But surely there was never any doubt which two men were going to set the tone for what was about to come. Having just made it sound like some kind of Premier League Mayweather vs Pacquiao match up, in fact both bosses were far from being in a combative mood in their pre match interviews. Jose was nigh on glowing about Arsenal’s ‘creative team (with) amazing, fantastic solutions.’ While Arsene said one of the important motivators for his team was ‘to share positive emotions with our fans.’ It sounded like someone had just broken out the joss sticks in the tunnel. Perhaps a little more in-your-face were the pundits in the booth. Here Thierry ‘as an Arsenal man’ Henry found himself getting mildly bad cop/bad copped by Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness over the former Gunners striker’s contention that ‘it was kind of weird to see (Cesc Fabregas) in a blue shirt’ and that ‘if I was the boss I would tried to buy him back.’ But this really was just everyone jostling for position at the starting gun. The race was yet to be run. In the first half of the encounter, it was the penalty shouts that saw the director scrambling, to switch to Gaffercam. The first image was a beauty, capturing both men together on the touchline after Oscar and Ospina had collided. Oscar and David Ospina collided with the Chelsea man taken to hospital for a suspected concussion . In the foreground, Mourinho dispensed with the pre-game purple prose and was using an entirely different vocabulary to berate the fourth official. While in the distance, Wenger looked on with the benign countenance of a man who perhaps thought he’d got away with one? Each was then given their own live hero shot. Jose was simply stoney-faced for his, by the time the camera had found him after the Fabregas yellow for an adjudged dive. But Arsene’s solo was much more dramatic. A handball shout against Cahill rejected, the Arsenal boss had by now donned one of his famous zip up coats and was captured in glorious slo-mo. His arms raised in the natural position for a man exclaiming ‘how wasn’t that a handball?’ Back in the studio at half time, Thierry looked just as surprised as his old boss had, as he exclaimed ‘Two? Wow!’ when Jamie Carragher said he thought Chelsea had a pair of good shouts from twelve yards. However, not for the first or last time he revealed his true colours when he admitted he thought there had indeed been one for the west London team. ‘I was showing my Arsenal side earlier’, Henry confessed. In his case, proverbially holding his hands up in the box. Jamie Carragher, Thierry Henry and Graeme Souness chew the fat after the final whistle . Into the second half, and on co-commentary Alan Smith made the point very early that Arsenal would be happy ‘in their quest to finish second’. And it became pretty clear pretty quickly that there were in fact two teams out there who’d take one point each. All of which meant the spotlights reserved for any Arsene and Jose fireworks were left dimmed throughout. We didn’t even get any awkward gaffer-on-gaffer action at the final whistle. Instead, just the sight of Mourinho disappearing down the tunnel with the draw tucked away inside his voluminous coat. And John Terry securing the right to be last image in the show with his enthusiastic shadow-boxing celebration. Indeed, by the time Sky had tracked down both managers back in the tunnel, it had reverted to the pre-game chill out zone they had created before kick off. Reporter Patrick Davidson’s attempt to get the Chelsea manager to bite only proved that Jose just wasn’t that hungry. ‘I have no comment’, he continued to reply, his face impassive throughout. Instead, we got a maths lecture on the points position at the top of the table. And a description of John Terry’s performance as ‘from the moon.’ Mourinho patrols the touchline as the Chelsea boss saw his side take another step toward the title . Someone had clearly relit those joss sticks, because Arsene too failed to take the bait when his head to head to Jose was broached. ‘It’s not about me, it’s about my team and my club’, he smiled, before deftly acknowledging an excellent Chelsea side without also paying dues to his opposite number. So in the end, both men effectively breasted the tape together (although they weren’t exactly holding hands in the process), finishing equal first in this particular one. Something Sky Sports spotted early on was the deal, and very wisely chose not to try too hard to shoehorn in melodrama where none existed. And why should they? After all, everyone will be back next year for more of the same. So what’s the rush?
target: Wenger and Mourinho faced off once more as Arsenal and Chelsea contested a 0-0 draw .
  Neither boss was in a combative mood before the game despite some fiery match-ups between the pair in the past .
  Arsenal manager yet to record a win against the Portuguese in 13 meetings .
  The point is another significant step for Chelsea in their inevitable march toward the title .
  Mourinho hits out at 'boring' criticism as he claims 11-year title wait for Arsenal is the real tragedy .