Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes Arsenal are ready to challenge for the Premier League crown this season.
He is now likely to start at Wembley on Sunday when his new club Arsenal meet Mourinho’s Premier League champions in the Community Shield.
“If you put (Mesut) Ozil plus Alexis Sanchez, plus (Calum) Chambers, plus (Mathieu) Debuchy you will maybe find a surprise”.
The Gunners are being touted as potential challengers for the Blues’ Premier League title [Daily Star], and this statement could be seen as confirmation that Mourinho is concerned about them beating them to the championship.
As at the time of filing this report, Arsenal had not bought any player apart from the players they prosecuted last season with, a sign that the players are likely to play with more cohesion this season. “We try to make the right decisions, we don’t spend the money we haven’t got”.
Wenger responded by insisting Arsenal spend within their means, and will not fret too much about outside opinions.
“I think what you want is not to listen too much to what people say, because sometimes in the same week I get two different reproaches: one I don’t spend enough and one too much”.
He told Standard Sport: “I hope they will give respect to him because he deserves it”. I believe if you want to create success you have to focus on the inside and do as well as we can.
The Portuguese is known for attempting mind games with his opponents [Daily Mail], and it looks like he is starting them again for the coming season.
“Hazard is in this category: now to reach the other two or three that are dominating world football at the moment I think it demands consistency which he is still to do”. Last season Eden was above Ronaldo, in spite of the fact that Ronaldo was fantastic and scored an incredible number of goals.
The traditional curtain-raiser will give Arsene Wenger a chance to measure his current Arsenal side against the league’s yard-stick and Flamini feels the acquisition of Cech is something the club must make use of. When asked whether Manuel Pellegrini was obsessed with him, Mourinho replied: “I don’t know”.
