The current Premier League champions have now faced both Arsenal and Chelsea in the league and, perhaps surprisingly, the Man City captain has expressed his belief that the Gunners could prove a bigger threat to them retaining the title than the blue boys from Stamford Bridge.
Vincent Kompany was speaking, as reported by the Daily Mail, after his City side came from behind with 10 men to rescue a point against Jose Mourinho’s early pace setters. Kompany’s handling of Diego Costa was a major part of the game and may have given the rest of the Premier League defenders a way to combat Chelsea.
City were the better team for most of the game, whereas at the Emirates it was Arsenal that dominated for large parts of the game. Maybe this is why the Belgian defender rates the Gunners as strong title contenders, or it may be to do with the fact that our attack is is more varied rather than being focused mainly on one player.
Kompany said, “It is not fair to call it at the moment. First of all we are not even close to Chelsea yet (in the table). Secondly, I have seen good things from Chelsea but I have seen maybe better things from Arsenal so I guess it will all be about consistency and, with the Champions League, it will get messy around December.
“It is too early to call. Five points is nothing but (Chelsea) have five points more than us, it is as simple as that.”
This may come as a surprise to Arsenal fans, who have been left largely underwhelmed by the way Arsenal have started this season, but if the incisive attacking that saw us score three past Aston Villa in less than five minutes is a sign of things to come, maybe Kompany will be proved right. We will have a clearer picture next weekend, when Maureen brings his bus to north London. Do you think that Arsenal will be in the mix at the end of the season?