Arsene Wenger has warned his Arsenal
stars they must improve against their
title rivals if they want to end the
club's long wait to be crowned Premier
League champions.
Wenger's side kick off their bid for a first English title
since 2004 at home to managerless Crystal Palace on
Saturday and morale is sky-high at the Emirates
Stadium following last season's FA Cup final triumph.
That win over Hull City ended Arsenal's nine-year
trophy drought and the feelgood factor appears to
have carried over to the new campaign on the
evidence of the Gunners' impressive 3-0 win over
Manchester City in the Community Shield last
weekend.
But Wenger remains concerned by Arsenal's poor
record against their top-four rivals, with last season's
6-3 defeat at City, 6-0 loss at Chelsea and 5-1
thrashing at Liverpool still fresh in his memory.
"I believe we have a chance because we were a long
time top of the league last year," Wenger said on
Friday.
"It is difficult to know how much better the other
teams will be. We have some challenges we have of
course to face that we did not face well last year, and
that means we have to take more points from the
top teams.
"That will be our real challenge this year and also to
keep the consistency against the teams who do not
fight for the championship.
"We finished fourth last year and made 79 points.
Man City won it with 86, so it was very tight in the
top four, that is one or two games.
"If you win against them, they have three points less
and you have three points more, that means it is
down to one game.
"With the confidence (of winning a trophy) there is a
little bit of weight off our shoulders that is for sure,
but we want to show that and transform that into
efficiency in our performances."
Wenger has splashed out £30 million to sign Chile
winger Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona and brought in
Calum Chambers and Mathieu Debuchy to strengthen
the defence.
But most of Arsenal's main challengers have also
bolstered their squads and Wenger feels "six or
seven teams" could offer a genuine title threat.
"The favourites you have again Chelsea, Man City,
Liverpool, Man United and us," he said.
"Then you have Everton, they were very dangerous
last year as well and could be candidates. How well
will Tottenham respond?
"There is no hierarchy in the teams I give you, there
is no priority -they are just the obvious candidates.
"It is very difficult to predict. The only thing you
know is that it will be tough."
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