Arteta’s Arsenal take on the Blues at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta has been impressed by Chelsea this season (John Walton/PA)open image in gallery
Mikel Arteta has been impressed by Chelsea this season (John Walton/PA) (PA Wire)
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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta believes second-placed Chelsea “fully deserve” to be put in the conversation to win the Premier League title.
Leaders Arsenal make the short trip across the capital to Stamford Bridge on Sunday eager to finish off a busy seven-day period in perfect fashion.
After a 4-1 thumping of Tottenham was followed by a statement 3-1 success over Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday, Arteta has backed his team to once again meet expectations, but does not buy conjecture that Chelsea are not in the title race.
“Well, I think we are all there and they are there because they fully deserve to be,” Arteta said.
“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.
“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.
“Obviously it’s a big game, it’s a big London derby. We’re going to play a really, really good opponent. They are in really good form and we know the challenge, we know the opportunity that we have as well on Sunday, so we are fully ready for it.”
The only sour note of the midweek triumph over Bayern was the early withdrawal of Leandro Trossard, but he could feature against Chelsea.
Arteta refused to rule the Belgian, who suffered a suspected calf problem, out of the trip and was non-committal on forwards Kai Havertz and Viktor Gyokeres.
“There is a potential chance, yeah,” Arteta said of Trossard’s availability for Sunday.
“Yeah, with Leo, there is another test today, we’ll have to see how he’s feeling and it doesn’t look like much, so we still have a few hours and we’ll have to wait and see.”
On Havertz and Gyokeres, Arteta added: “Yeah, we have another day tomorrow, so let’s see how everybody is tomorrow.
“They are getting closer and closer. We are very positive with both of them and that’s it.”
Gabriel Jesus stepped up his comeback with a behind-closed-doors appearance on Thursday, but the Chelsea fixture will come too soon for him.
Arteta also laughed off criticism by Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich after he claimed Paris St Germain were the best team they had faced this season and insisted Arsenal “rely on set-pieces”.
“I think the game they played against PSG was very similar when everything becomes man-to-man and the way they are with the full-backs, the way we did what we did in terms of rotation, they create a game that is a very low sequences of passes, so I know what he’s saying, so that’s fine,” Arteta smiled.
“It’s part of the game.”