Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri has spoken out over Arsenal’s Premier League title drought and argues that they are more than capable of becoming champions.
His side take on Arsenal this weekend and, as reported by The Mirror, the Italian finds it surprising that the Gunners haven’t won the Premier League since 2004 but admits that his record against Arsene Wenger’s side could be better.
When I was at Chelsea, they were the Invincibles. That was an unbelievable achievement, so it is surprising they have not won the league since.
In my time at Chelsea I only managed to beat them once in 14 attempts. It is a bad record, but every match was a good game, always very open.
The Italian moved on to suggest that Arsenal’s recent title drought may be down to the fact that they have been unable to fully replace the legends of the Invincibles team.
I don’t know why Arsenal have had to wait so long, because Arsene Wenger is a good manager and he brings in good players, but maybe it is not so easy to replace players such as Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Fredrik Ljungberg and all the defenders.
The Leicester manager claims that the current Arsenal side are more than ready to fight it out for the Premier League title, although he conceded that the North London side are not ready to win the UEFA Champions League.
They are ready to fight for the title again in my opinion. Maybe not the Champions League just yet, but in the league they are growing stronger. I think they have a chance.
Looking ahead to this weekend’s clash, Ranieri admitted that his side need to concentrate more than has been the case in recent weeks if they are to overcome Arsenal.
We must concentrate a little more. It is not easy scoring goals when you are behind in a game.
To beat Arsenal we must do the perfect match, no mistakes. Arsenal are great to watch, they are smart, fast and technical.”On Saturday we are going to have a very big match on our hands, because it is difficult to find a weakness in the present Arsenal team.
