Jose Mourinho exclusive: I want to see my Tottenham against Arsenal

Jose Mourinho was watching on as a Sky Sports pundit at the Emirates Stadium during the last north London derby in September. His analysis, either side of a chaotic 2-2 draw, included a dissection of Arsenal's attack and a word of caution on the changing chemistry at Tottenham.

"Maybe some of the boys want something different," he surmised.

His comments proved prescient as Tottenham's season started to unravel. But even he could not have predicted that he would inherit those problems himself only a few weeks later, and that he would be taking his seat in the dugout, rather than the studio, the next time the two sides met.

The intervening months have not been straightforward.

Tottenham are little closer to the Champions League places than they were when Mourinho took over in November. They have only won two of their last eight Premier League games. Thursday's goalless draw with Bournemouth was just the latest performance to invite scrutiny.

They will need to show considerable improvement on that laboured showing at the Vitality Stadium when Arsenal visit the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, but an embattled Mourinho is a dangerous one and it is for precisely that reason that this could be his kind of game.

The derby, however daunting given recent form, is an opportunity for Mourinho to quieten his critics and perhaps even puncture the optimism around what Mikel Arteta is doing at the other end of the Seven Sisters Road. Rivalries have often brought the best out of Mourinho's teams and the significance of this one is not lost on him.

"When I am in a club, I like to be one of them and I like to feel what my people feel," he tells Sky Sports. "It's a new feeling for me when I move from club to club, but I learn that feeling very, very fast. I would say that the moment I put my foot in a club for the first time, I learn it automatically.

"So yes, I am one of them. In this case, one of us, which is Tottenham people. What is important for the fans is important for me.