Cliff Notes – Chelsea deserve to be in PL title race – Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta
- Mikel Arteta acknowledges Chelsea’s deserving position in the Premier League title race, citing their squad quality and recent performance.
- Arteta praises Chelsea as one of the most enjoyable teams to watch, highlighting their attacking fluidity and individual talent.
- Injury updates reveal Leandro Trossard and other players are nearing recovery, with Gabriel Jesus close to returning after knee surgery.
Chelsea deserve to be in PL title race – Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta believes Chelsea deserve to be in the Premier League title race and that they are one of his favourite sides to watch.
Arsenal travel to Stamford Bridge on Sunday aiming to extend their six-point lead over Enzo Maresca’s side, who have exceeded expectations to sit in second place after 12 matches.
Asked whether Chelsea were title challengers, Arteta said on Friday: “I think we are all there, and they are there because they fully deserve what they have done in the last few years. I think the squad that they assembled, the numbers that they have, the quality that they have, the number of coaches they have it makes sense that what is happening there is very, very positive and they deserve to be there.”
After the two sides last met — a 1-0 home victory for Arsenal in March — Arteta described Chelsea as “the best attacking team in the league by a mile.”
Mikel Arteta insists Chelsea deserve to be in the title race. David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Pushed on whether that was still the case, Arteta replied: “They were [the best last season], the sample now this season is early so it’s difficult to say.
“But it is one of the teams that I enjoy the most watching and they have a lot of fluidity, they have a lot of threat, they have a lot of individual talent, they are very clear what they want to do and that’s why they are very tough.”
Arteta confirmed Leandro Trossard will have “another test today” on a calf problem sustained in the midweek win over Bayern Munich.
Viktor Gyökeres and Kai Havertz were awaiting the results of repeat scans on hamstring and knee issues respectively.
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Asked whether those scans came back clear, Arteta said: “Clear, not yet, but they are getting closer and closer. We are very positive with both of them and that’s it.”
Gabriel Jesus played in a behind-closed-doors game against Watford held at Arsenal’s training ground on Thursday along with Ethan Nwaneri, who is short of game-time.
Jesus has not played since undergoing knee surgery in January and although Arteta suggested the Brazilian was “very close” to a return, the Arsenal boss added: “We see every single day how he’s reacting to the change that he had in load and then he needs to get into the chemistry of the team, understanding the things on match time which are very different to anything that he tried to replicate in training obviously and those gaps try to make them as short as possible.”