Chelsea take on Arsenal on Sunday at Wembley in the FA Community Shield and both sides will look for an early confidence boost ahead of the new Premier League season.
But in a sub-plot which dominates meetings between the two sides, the Wembley clash will match up Jose Mourinho against his old nemesis Arsene Wenger.
Here, GetWestLondon takes a look at the duo’s colourful past.
Round one - the first blows exchanged
The Arsenal boss started the war after he was somewhat unreceptive to his west London neighbours after Mourinho had been at the helm for just over a year, deflecting questions about the Gunners’ all-foreign line-up into Chelsea’s court.
The Frenchman said: “I don't see especially that Chelsea play more English players than we do. Who have they produced, homegrown? Just one, John Terry.”
And he didn’t end the rant against the Blues there, as he went on to criticise the way in which their Portugese manager had them playing football.
Wenger added: “I know we live in a world where we have only winners and losers, but once a sport encourages teams who refuse to take the initiative, the sport is in danger.”
Mourinho's Chelsea v Wenger's Arsenal
But Jose was clearly well versed in the art of retaliation, and hit back in comically crude fashion.
The Blues boss responded: “Wenger has a real problem with us and I think he is what you call in England a voyeur.
“He is someone who likes to watch other people. There are some guys who, when they are at home, have this big telescope to look into the homes of other people and see what is happening. Wenger must be one of them – it is a sickness.”
The Frenchman, nicknamed 'Le Prof', was less-than-impressed with his Chelsea counterpart.
Wenger replied: “He’s out of order, disconnected with reality and disrespectful.
“When you give success to stupid people, it makes them more stupid sometimes and not more intelligent.”
And Mourinho called on the record books to back him against his rival.
The response: “At Stamford Bridge, we have a file of quotes from Mr Wenger about Chelsea in the last 12 months – it is not a file of five pages. It is a file of 120 pages.”
Round two - Mourinho strikes from beyond the Channel
Following the Chelsea manager’s departure in 2007 due to mutual consent, it appeared that the rivalry was finally over. It was not to be, however.
“The English like statistics a lot,” said Mourinho in 2008. “Do they know that Arsene Wenger has only 50 per cent of wins in the English league?”
But without provoking a strong response, the Mourinho-Wenger rivalry went quiet, until the former became manager of Real Madrid.
Key players Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos were accused of receiving tactical bookings so as to avoid being suspended for a more critical match.
And somewhat understandably, Wenger was disappointed in his colleague.
He said: “When you see how it looks on television it is the best demonstration to think: ‘Never do that again’. It looks, frankly, horrible.
“It’s a pity to see that from a big club.”
But the charismatic manager from Portugal wasn’t in the mood to pull shots.
He responded: “Instead of speaking about Real Madrid, Mr Wenger should speak about Arsenal and explain how he lost 2-0 against a team in the Champions League for the first time.
“The history about the young kids is getting old now. Sagna, Clichy, Walcott, Fabregas, Song, Nasri, Van Persie, Arshavin are not kids. They are all top players.”
Round three - the return to Chelsea
It was an ordinary winter transfer window. Mourinho was going about his somewhat astute business, selling key player Juan Mata to Manchester United for an astounding £37.1million.
And suddenly, the Gunners manager was left fuming by the deal - as the Blues waited until after they faced the Red Devils to sell them a wonderful playmaker.
He said: “Chelsea have already played twice against Man United, they could have sold him last week. I think if you want to respect the fairness for everybody, this should not happen.”
Jose this time brushed off any accusations of foul play - it was merely his north London opposite resorting to type.
The Portuguese boss responded: “Wenger complaining is normal because he always does. Normally he should be happy that Chelsea sold a player like Juan Mata, but this is a little bit his nature.
“I think what is not fair is that his team always has the best days to play.”
Things began to peak in February 2014 when Mourinho and Wenger took their dance up to a whole new level.
The Arsenal boss suggested that their title rivals’ downplaying of their chances of succes was due to a “fear to fail.”
And in typical fashion Mourinho fired back in scathing style on, of all days, Valentine's Day.
In what was one of the moments of the season, he responded: “Am I afraid of failure? He is a specialist in failure. I’m not. So if one supposes he’s right and I’m afraid of failure, it’s because I don’t fail many times.
“So maybe he’s right. I’m not used to failing. But the reality is he’s a specialist because, eight years without a piece of silverware, that’s failure."
Round four - Wenger pushes back
After a brief altercation in the dugouts, Chelsea saw off the Gunners 2-0 at Stamford Bridge, and Wenger was caught on camera shoving his managerial enemy.
A mistake by Wenger’s own admission. But not one that Mourinho would forget too quickly, given his feelings of double standards in the FA.
He said: "I’m not surprised (Wenger hasn't been charged), I’m not surprised. (Me) charged? Charged? If it was me it would have been a stadium ban.”
Round five - Going on the defensive
Like schoolboys in a playground, Arsene once again spoke dismissively about the “easy” way Mourinho set his side out to defend in the Champions League.
Which provoked an appropriately rather childish response as he said: “It’s not easy. If it was easy, you wouldn’t lose 3-1 at home to Monaco."
But the Arsenal boss finally seemed to tire of such games.
He said: “I think I just told you that the biggest thing for a manager is to respect other managers and some people have to improve on that.
“The rivalry is real. But it has to be respectful. I believe that the managers sometimes in the heat of the game, the passion gets out of control and when I’m guilty, I regret always.”
And Mourinho seemed to respond with the sentiments, by telling BT Sport in June 2015.
He added: "I believe they [Arsenal] have a top manager, I'm not making fun here. They will be even harder to beat next season."
Round six - New season, Old rivalry
....At least until today, where the Chelsea boss has accused Arsenal of buying their way to the title in an interview with several national newspapers ahead of his Community Shield clash on Sunday.
“If you add up the amounts clubs have spent in the last three or four years I think maybe you will find a surprise," he said.
"If you put Ozil plus Alexis Sanchez, plus Chambers, plus Debuchy, you will find a surprise.
"It's a fantastic squad with good players, fantastic goalkeeper, they are more than ready to be a title contenders.
"Get a calculator. That is the easiest thing, it leaves no space for speculation. If you want to be honest, objective and pragmatic it is the easiest job for a manager to do."
