Arsène Wenger has said Chelsea are nailed on to win the
Premier League title if they continue their form, with the Arsenal manager
admitting there are no serious contenders to challenge José Mourinho’s side on
the evidence of the season so far.
The Arsenal manager was speaking after a 2-1
defeat at Swansea left his team in sixth place and 12 points behind Chelsea
after only 11 games.
Wenger bemoaned the absence of “the right rigorous attitude”
after Arsenal allowed a second-half lead to slip for the second time in five
days. Ahead through Alexis Sánchez’s 12th goal in his past 14 appearances,
Arsenal conceded twice in three minutes. Gylfi Sigurdsson, with a majestic
free-kick, scored the first, and Bafétimbi Gomis, who had been on the pitch
only two minutes, got the winner to inflict Arsenal’s second league defeat of
the season.
With Chelsea unbeaten and four points clear at the top of
the Premier League, Wenger conceded the broader picture does not look good for
Arsenal and the other clubs with title aspirations. “At the moment Chelsea are
on course for 100 points this season,” he said. “If you look at the number of
points they have, if they keep that up nobody will catch them, that’s for sure.
There doesn’t look to be anybody capable to challenge them at the moment.”
Asked why Chelsea are so dominant while their rivals were
struggling to find any sort of momentum, Wenger replied: “There is no obvious
reason. They had a good start, and we have gone through that [in the past], as
long as you don’t lose, you don’t question yourself, there is a little bit
extra spirit in the team that, when it is tight, gets them through.”
On the back of surrendering a three-goal lead against
Anderlecht in the Champions League on Tuesday, Wenger admitted it had been a
particularly tough period. “We had a very disappointing week, considering the
performances we produced and the end result we got it’s very disappointing. We
were 3-0 up against Anderlecht and 1-0 up today and in the end we lose two
points against Anderlecht and three points today. I think it’s very
disappointing because you have to be capable, once you are 1-0 up and a big team,
to win the game.”
Arsenal would have gone into the top four with victory but
instead Garry Monk’s side leapfrogged them and climbed to fifth place. “I felt
that we allowed them back into the game by losing some challenges in the middle
of the park that you cannot afford to lose,” Wenger said.
“It’s unfortunate to lose a game like that but we were not
rigorous until the end. We produced quite a decent performance for 75 minutes
but you have to last 90 minutes. Did Tuesday night play a part in our mind? I
don’t think so. I hope not. And Swansea, you have to give them credit, they
didn’t give up, they fought until the end, they scored a good free-kick, and of
course that gave them momentum again.
“In the end we lost the three points, that’s very sad, very
disappointing, but we have to take it on the chin because we didn’t play for 90
minutes with the right rigorous attitude.”
[Guardian]
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