GUNNS ‘N’ ROSES
Conte: Wenger’s a world-class boss with quality players and Arsenal will be one of our title rivals
ANTONIO CONTE believes Arsenal will be Premier League title contenders this season.
The Chelsea boss has named the Gunners as one of six teams he believes are capable of lifting the Premier League crown.
As he goes on a revenge mission at Wembley this afternoon, the Italian has said that with the improvement to their squad that they can mount a realistic charge to be crowned champions after a 14-year wait.
He said: “Arsenal is a potential rival this season. I consider them one of the six teams who will be fighting for the title.
“Arsene has put together a very good squad. Last season they were prepared to play the Premier League, Champions League and the FA Cup.
“They haven’t lost any players and now, at this moment, they have bought Alexandre Lacazette as well. And they have improved because they have kept the same squad as last season, players such as Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.
“They have a really good team. And a really good squad.”
After Chelsea were defeated in the FA Cup Final by the Gunners three months ago, there were still doubts about boss Arsene Wenger’s future.
But Conte said he had little doubt that his rival would remain in his post – and he claimed that the fit between manager and club was a good one.
He added: “I wasn’t surprised that he stayed at Arsenal. I think they are one of the best teams in the world – and the link between the club and the manager is the right one.
“Wenger is also one of the best coaches in the world, so it’s right for them.
“He has taken a long time to build his squad. He is definitely the right choice for them.”
Conte’s press briefing ahead of this afternoon’s Charity Shield was decidedly low-key.
And he dampened expectations ahead of Chelsea’s title defence this season with another veiled barb about squad strengthening. Asked about winning Serie A with Juventus and Chelsea’s Premier League triumph, the 48-yearold said: “We are talking about two different situations.
“At Juventus, when we won our first title, I think that at the same time we disrupted two or three other teams. After we won, Juventus increased their quality. And other teams dropped theirs, there was a lot of change. Milan sold Zlatan Ibrahimovic (below) and Thiago Silva – they sold their best players. “Juventus got better every season and stayed at the top “In England, if you win the title, the others prepare to fight you with everything they have got. It’s very difficult to repeat a win. “For that reason, I have to work hard to improve our team and squad. It’s normal to be a bit afraid of repeating a title season with a worse one. The same happened to Leicester after winning the title. “And we all know what happened two seasons ago here at Chelsea. For this reason it will be very important to avoid a bad one.”