‘Arsenal can challenge for league titles’

Arsene Wenger has hailed the significance of Arsenal’s narrow 1-0 win against Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in the FA Community Shield.

I can honestly say that I cannot see that happening ever again. “In that perspective, they scored one goal, they deserved to win, congratulations to them”. “You can never speak too soon, so I take each game as it comes”, he said.

“It’s disappointing to lose, of course, because it’s the first trophy of the season, but it’s gone now”.

“In my first season we were nearly there, in my second season we did it and in my third season if you are close, you can always do it”, he added.

Jose Mourinho has insisted that his issues with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich are in the past.

Mourinho was adamant that he waited for the Frenchman but felt that bad blood from last season had played a part as the Arsenal boss opted to keep his distance.

There is no denying that Arsenal played a pretty great match against Chelsea in the Community Shield, but was this performance enough to show that the Gunners are legit contenders in the Premier League?

“Listen, it hurts. It doesn’t matter if it’s a friendly”, he said.

“That’s the mentality I was brought up in, that’s the same from the manager on a daily basis”. Francis Coquelin was a surprise success in the latter role last season, but if he can’t repeat his form or if he picks up an injury, Arsenal doesn’t have much cover for that position.

They’ve won four out of five matches, with their most recent triumph arriving in the global Champions Cup against Champions League winners Barcelona, thanks to a penalty-shootout victory. As long as I get it served every time in press conferences it can have an impact on the team. “We know that we can beat them and before we go into the Premier League; that is very important”. “I just want to play, to dribble, to do some skills”.

“What we have to do is maintain the levels of last season because all the teams will be better and that means we will better so we can compete against them to do well”.

“We have a tricky start against West Ham United, Crystal Palace – the two derbies – and then Liverpool straight after”. Sterling, Milner, Benteke, Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin and more have all made moves this summer and it will be interesting to see just how these players can settle into life with their new teams.