Arsène Wenger believes it will only take about 15 games to determine this season’s Premier League champions.
Arsenal had a tough start last year, after being bombarded with injuries and struggling defensively, they managed to pick up form after Christmas, putting in wonderful performances and piling up victory after victory, but they never caught Chelsea who were just too far to reach.
After West Ham finished in the top four right before Christmas last season, the Arsenal manager is expecting another surprise team to sneak into the top rankings in the first half of the league.
“Every year, especially in the first part of the race, during the first part of the season, one team always gets in,” he said.
“Who will it be this season? I don’t know. For a long period last year it was West Ham. When we played at Christmas at West Ham they were fourth in the league so it could be another surprise this season.”
Wenger believes Chelsea are favourites and says that the first 15 games will reveal to us the identity of this season’s champions.
“Chelsea won it by a margin last year so they are the favourites. After that let’s see how it goes. After 15 games you will know more about who will win the Premier League.”
He then talked about how last season, his team slipped and got back on its feet when it was too late.
“Last year after 12 games we were 15 points behind Chelsea, and in the next 26 we took 58 points and Chelsea 55. That means we missed our start to the season because it was after the World Cup.”
The manager urged his team to take off right from the start and believes Arsenal have the right players to do so despite a difficult start to the season.
“So let’s start strong this season… I believe we have the needed ingredients. But we have a tricky start as well because we have two derbies and Liverpool in the first three games, so we have a difficult schedule from the start.”
According to Wenger, consistency and development are keys to winning the title and if those two elements sustain, Arsenal’s odds of winning the league are quite high.
“We need to maintain our game. That’s important as well – that we develop what we do well and do not stand still. That means we develop our cohesion, our passing game. If we are capable to keep the cohesion and the solidarity we have at the moment through the 38 games, we have a good chance.”
