Arsene Wenger has claimed he believes we handle pressure well and that the intensity is something everyone at the top of the Premier League experiences.
The top of the Premier League is getting tight. Despite Chelsea winning by eight points and nine separating 2nd and 4th last season, at certain times it was considerably harder to tell who would finish in those coveted top four spots.
The fight for the Europa League spot was also tight and even ended with just four points between 5th and 7th.
This season, everyone has strengthened and it’s difficult to predict how it’ll finish, let alone how the table will look during the course of the year.
On the pressure felt at the top, Wenger said, “I believe we are able to handle it and we want to handle it. We can talk and talk about it but in football you have to accept that you can win, draw or lose. What you expect is that you give your best in every single game and we are determined to do that.”
He continued, “The other thing we don’t know is how good our opponents will be. I don’t know how good Man United will be, how good Man City will be, but if you look at their squads they can have the same ambition that we have.”
However, after facing Chelsea and beating them 1-0 in the pre-season Community Shield, we seem to have rid ourselves of the Mourinho curse and will hopefully be far better equipped to deal with them in future, similarly to how we beat Manchester City away last season after our 3-0 victory against them in pre-season.
“The pressure is the same at Liverpool, Man City, Man United and Arsenal,” Wenger continued, “That is normal. The only place where you don’t have that situation now is in France because everyone knows that PSG will win the league. Here what is interesting is that the pressure is on everybody, at least on six or seven clubs. That makes the Premier League so interesting.
“We had much more pressure before when I knew I had at least to be in the top four and we did not necessarily have the potential to do it.”
Wenger added finally, “[That happened] in more recent years. The pressure is really on you when you know you are just on the border of achieving what is absolutely requested. When you know you cannot miss an inch or you are out. That is much more difficult.”