adminLONDON. – Sunday’s Community Shield against champions Chelsea gives Arsenal an early opportunity to test their English Premiership soccer title credentials. It may only be pre-season, but there have been plenty of positives for Arsenal ahead of the new campaign. After a productive tour of Asia, Arsene Wenger’s men returned to the familiar surroundings of north London and provided plenty of cheer for supporters at the Emirates Cup.
A total of 14 goals in four games speaks of a side playing with confidence, and the 6-0 demolition of Lyon on Saturday showed the Gunners at their free-flowing best despite the absence of the talismanic Alexis Sanchez, who is yet to return to London following his Copa America heroics with Chile.
The likes of Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud appear refreshed from a summer’s rest, new signing Petr Cech has looked typically assured in goal, and there have been signs of real promise from the club’s next wave of stars – notably academy graduate Alex Iwobi and recently-recruited French teenager Jeff Reine-Adelaide.
Optimism abounds at the Emirates, and Arsene Wenger sees encouraging signs at both ends of the pitch.
“Our defensive stability was very good,” he said after the 1-0 win over Wolfsburg.
“It smells like we can score goals. That is something that is very positive. Around the box our passing looks incisive, dangerous, creative.”
The next test comes at Wembley, and who better to dampen the mood than Jose Mourinho? The Community Shield is hardly a coveted trophy, but it presents Arsenal with an opportunity to make a statement of intent ahead of the Premier League season, and meetings between Wenger and Mourinho are rarely dull.
Indeed, the Blues boss – who notoriously described his adversary as a “specialist in failure” last season – has already stoked the fire.
“If you add up the amounts clubs have spent in the last three or four years I think maybe you will find a surprise,” Mourinho told national newspapers this week as he aimed a jibe at Arsenal’s transfer spending.
“We don’t listen too much to what people have to say,” responded a deadpan Wenger. The tensions between the pair are more apparent than ever, and the goalless draw between the sides at the Emirates in April stretched Wenger’s winless run against his old foe to 13 games.
And while the Community Shield serves as more of an appetiser than a main course, it is not without its significance.
“Of course it is not a friendly match,” said Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini ahead of last year’s fixture. “It is an important game against an important team.” – Sky Sports.
Online Reporter