Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has claimed that Arsene Wenger is possibly the last of a dying breed of manager, as he prepares to come face-to-face with his Arsenal counterpart.
The Frenchman has spent more than 21 years in charge of the Gunners and, up until recently, had almost complete control of all goings-on behind the scenes and on the field.
Pochettino fears that those days are fast coming to an end, however, with managers now being given less and less time to make an impact before eventually being fired.
"It's difficult [to be like Wenger]," he told reporters ahead of Saturday's North London derby. "For different reasons, it is tough. Maybe we are talking about one of the last managers to be able to apply this power over everything in a football club.
"The owners are different these days. Before, England was a little bit of a paradise for football. It was unique: there was respect for projects, for people, respect for managers, and even when I arrived at Southampton five years ago, it was still there.
"But now the owners are different. When English football started to integrate more with European football, England started to share the Latin culture more. And in the last few years, everything that has happened in the English game is similar to what would happen in another European country."
Pochettino has never lost a home match against Arsenal during his time at Tottenham, and helped his side finish above their rivals last season for the first time in more than two decades.
Daniel Lewis
