Arsene Wenger is convinced that Leicester City have the on-field potential to win the Premier League but, for the second time in eight days, the Arsenal manager has questioned whether they can remain immune from the pressures of delivering such a fairy-tale. “But at home you have to express your strengths and our strength is to have the ball”, he said.
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“But I expect Arsenal and Man City to come out victorious and those two will probably end up battling it out for the title”.
The question now hanging over Leicester’s season is whether they have the experience to handle the pressure of a title run-in, but Ranieri insists their rivals have more to worry about.
“You give me that example but if I sign a player for £400,000, before he plays people will say “what is that?”
Eyes were popping among numerous viewing public as Leicester totally dismantled the most expensively assembled squad in the top-flight in Manchester City, but now is surely the time to stop feeling befuddled by their achievements.
Mathieu Flamini has been guilty of careless individual errors but seemingly retains the confidence of his manager Arsene Wenger. The result from both games could change the entire dynamic of the league table, but we have to focus on ourselves and put in a strong performance against a team that should not be underestimated by any means.
The price of tickets in the Premier League has been a hot topic this week with thousands of Liverpool supporters walking out of last weekend’s game at Anfield against Sunderland in protest at the rising costs. I don’t know how they will respond to that. But we are a team against Arsenal and it’s the whole team – not just Ozil.
Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy is backing his side to cause Arsenal problems when the two teams clash at the Emirates on Sunday. “But once you are top, you can think about losing what you have. He adapted slowly to the Premiership, but today I think he has adapted”, Wenger said. They are clearly the favourites for the title at the moment, and will fancy taking all three points against the Gunners. “They could win the league and they could still be in a relegation fight next year”.
Midfielder Daniel Amartey must wait for his Leicester debut and will not feature against Arsenal. “How long you can isolate the players from that I don’t know”. But I said last week that Arsenal are due to hammer a team very soon with the amount of chances they’re creating, particularly at home.
“They suck you in and they go very quickly into the opponents” half.
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With no goals conceded in either of those games, Wenger must decide whether to recall Mertesacker or continue to partner Gabriel with Laurent Koscielny.
