Jose Mourinho has dismissed Mikel Arteta's claim that Tottenham have an unfair advantage over Arsenal ahead of this weekend's North London Derby.
The Gunners host Spurs on Sunday with both sides looking for three points to keep alive their hopes of finishing in a European qualification spot.
Before then, however, they face Europa League last-16 ties, with Spurs taking on Dinamo Zagreb and Arsenal facing Olympiacos.
Both sides were drawn to play the away leg away from home first, however UEFA rules state two clubs from the same city are not permitted to play on the same day.
As a result, Spurs will now play Zagreb at home on Thursday, while Arsenal face a near-3,000 mile round trip to Greece.
Speaking after the decision was made Arteta was clearly far from happy, saying: "We can raise our voices and we should do that because we want to have two teams playing in equal conditions. But the decision has been made and that’s it.
"I don’t want to use one bit of excuse going towards that game saying, ‘oh, they have an advantage’,” he added. “So no, probably I will use that to take it in our advantage. And that’s it."
When asked about the situation on Wednesday, however, Mourinho appeared to have little sympathy for Arteta and his side, and pointed towards a reverse situation when the two sides faced each other earlier in the season.
"On December 6th we played Arsenal in our stadium," he said. "On December 3rd they played at home against Rapid Vienna. At the same time we were playing in the ice in Linz against LASK with a late flight that landed back in London at 3am. Was that an advantage to Arsenal?"
The Portuguese manager's words certainly add a bit of spice to proceedings, and it remains to be seen if Arteta responds ahead of Sunday's big game.
Spurs won the reverse fixture 2-0 last year, and Arsenal will be desperate to get one over their old enemy as they look to bounce back from Saturday's disappointing 1-1 draw with Burnley.
