Mourinho's £5m incentive

It was inconceivable a few days ago that Jose Mourinho's future at Chelsea could be regarded as more secure than Arsène Wenger's at Arsenal. But yesterday Wenger confirmed that he had indeed had to reassure his players, in the dressing room prior to the north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur, that he would not quit the club before his contract runs out in 2008.

"I spoke to them and reassured them," Wenger said after the 2-2 draw and in the wake of the departure of the Arsenal vice-chairman, David Dein, the Frenchman's close ally. Whether Wenger stays beyond next year is another matter although Mourinho, his rival across London, has given himself an improbable chance of keeping his own job after agreeing to demands made by Chelsea's owner, Roman Abramovich. Chief among those is Mourinho's willingness to listen to plans to bring in a general manager at the club and to be a less abrasive, confrontational presence. But sources believe that it may still be a case of seeing just what Chelsea win by the end of the season before the manager's future can truly be decided.

If Chelsea do achieve the unprecedented feat of a quadruple - European Cup, Premiership title, FA Cup and League Cup - then the Portuguese will be eligible, under the terms of his contract, for a bonus of £5.2m, which is the equivalent of one year's salary. It is far in excess of the bonuses that could be earned by the Chelsea players.

Wenger confirmed yesterday that Arsenal would be recruiting a director of football to work alongside him and fill the void left by Dein's departure. "It will happen," Wenger said. "But at the moment I have not given it any thought." Asked if he would have the final say on who was chosen he said: "Yes."

In the meantime Wenger will take on more responsibility himself, and admitted it will make his job "more difficult". But he added that he was not intending to "change his team" this summer beyond the addition of "one player" - thought to be a high-calibre striker such as Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o.