Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger seems to think that fewer points will be required to win the Premier League this season.

The Gunners lost their opening game to West Ham last weekend, fewer than 24 hours after champions Chelsea were held at home by Swansea City.

Next up Arsenal face Crystal Palace on Sunday, who have spent over £20M this summer alone. With clubs throughout the Premier League able to part with huge sums of money, clubs lower down the table can now attract bigger names.

“It will certainly be a tighter and tougher league because the quality of teams in the lower half of the table has improved,” Wenger said during his press conference on Friday morning.

Yohan Cabaye, once an Arsenal target, will start at home for his new club for the first time on Sunday, a week after the Gunners faced Dmitri Payet. The thorn in Chelsea’s side last season was highly-rated and thoroughly impressive winger André Ayew, and Aston Villa completed the signing of Barcelona wonderkid Adama Traoré on Friday.

The Premier League has always been fiercely competitive but the money in the English game is only increasing, and clubs outside of the top four are benefitting more than ever.

“I believe in every game…what gives you a good indication is if you look at the bench of the team you play against,” Wenger explained. “When you look at the teams in the second part of the table and you look at their benches, it indicates that you will have tough games.

“I never had many easy matches in my life but it is always getting more difficult, that’s true.”

The results last weekend seem to indicate that the manager is right. Teams throughout the Premier League are only going to become more dangerous with more money and more high quality players, and the top teams will find points more difficult to come by as a result.