Boom! A few days before Arsenal face Chelsea in the pre-season showpiece match which is the Community Shield, Arsene Wenger was already taking aim at our London rivals and their manager Antonio Conte. And in the pre-match press conference today the Frenchman followed it up with some more and I for one am loving it.
A few days ago Metro was reporting Wenger’s comments about the summer signing by Chelsea of Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid, a transfer that some Chelsea fans are already a bit miffed about as they were expecting to re-sign their former striker Romelu Lukaku from Everton until their former manager Jose Mourinho nipped in and took him to play for Manchester United.
I am sure that Wenger is aware of this and the fact that some Chelsea fans are struggling to understand why Conte does not seem too keen on Diego Costa, so he slipped in a dig about Morata being less of a goal threat than Costa, which I reckon will have landed squarely on the chin of his rival.
In his press conference yesterday in the build up to our Wembley clash tomorrow, the Daily Mail reports Wenger went on to claim that Chelsea will have a tougher time of it in the Premier League this time, suggesting that last season they had the benefit of no European football as well as the other clubs being a bit inconsistent. He then finished off by saying that our win over them in the FA Cup final, and the manner of it, showed that there is not too much between the teams.
He said, ‘Last year, Chelsea did not play in the European Cup and certainly they were a bit more consistent (in the Premier League). We made 75 points last season, which was four more than the year before, when we finished second in the league.
‘So it looks like Chelsea has taken advantage of the fact that all the other teams were less consistent.
‘In the FA Cup final we have shown that the gap was not as high maybe. And we have to show that again on Sunday.’
Fighting talk from Le Prof there, but can the Arsenal players back it up and beat the Blues to the first trophy of the season?
Bob.