The Barclays Premier League season is about to begin again, but two London teams, Chelsea and Arsenal will certainly be renewing their rivalry, judging by the comment of Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager.
Looking ahead of the pre-season Community Shield game, to be played by Chelsea,as league winners and Arsenal, the FA Champions, Wenger ruled out that the game “will be a friendly”.
“It’s a game that is important but it is still preparation. We want to win it and overall it can just give us that little bit more confidence before we go into the season,”, Wenger said.
“You know, it will not be a friendly as it is like that and it is good like that,” he added.
The Gunners go into the match on a run of four successive victories at Wembley, and having scored 14 goals during pre-season.
Wenger hopes his side will maintain their momentum against the champions, but warned against reading too much into the result.
“We have to accept that every game is decided and judged as definite,” he said. “But you know that in real life it is not like that. The tribunal is out there and will draw conclusions from Sunday.
“But no matter, positive or negative [result], we have to continue our way and focus on ourselves.”
Jose Mourinho, manager of Chelsea has not responded to Wenger’s statement, but on the Chelsea website, he said he has a full complement of his squad to choose from to face Arsenal on Sunday.
Mourinho had previously rated Gary Cahill and Diego Costa as doubts following the midweek friendly against Barcelona in America, but believes he now has a full complement available to him.
‘All good,’ he said on Friday afternoon. ‘We are fine. Jet lag is minimal, the travelling was very short, it was a very good pre-season in terms of travelling. We are in London since Wednesday morning, no problem.’
Mourinho was then asked about the fitness of last season’s top scorer, Diego Costa, but reiterated his lack of concern.
‘[We have] three top strikers. If one is injured, we have two. No concerns, no protections. It’s a position where we’re very strong. I’m not worried, match after match, and we have a fantastic group of strikers so no problem.’
*Culled from www.arsenal.com and www.chelseafc.com