Chelsea face Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, hoping to secure a fourth straight league win and piling the pressure on their London rivals.
The Blues are the favourites for the game, and have not lost to the Gunners at home since 2011. However, the clubs last two meetings in both the FA Cup final and the Community Shield have gone Arsenal’s way.
Arsene Wenger has been under a lot of scrutiny lately, something that isn’t necessarily surprising. The Gunners have picked up just six points from their opening four games, and were humiliated by title rivals Liverpool before the international break. Despite bouncing back against Bournemouth, the Chelsea fixture is a game they will hope to prove a point in – but another loss similar to the Liverpool game could have huge consequences to Wenger.
However, Conte isn’t interested in this, saying that Wenger’s situation at Arsenal is not in his mind at all.
“I don’t care nothing about Arsenal’s situation, I care about Chelsea’s,” Conte said in his pre-match press conference.
“When we talk about it we are unlucky.”
“They will solve their problems, we will solve ours.”
“They are a big rival, if you see their squad they have a lot of top players.”
“I don’t understand why they can’t fight for the title, they lost only one player but kept all the rest.”
“They have many top players.”
Arsenal beat FC Koln 3-1 in their Europa League opener, a competition which many say damages the league form for whichever English side plays in it, as the Thursday/Sunday fixtures can become problematic. However, Conte denies that Arsenal are at a disadvantage, and says their squad is good enough to cope.
“I have watched the game Wenger rotated a lot of players and were rested for the game against us, it is not an advantage,” he said.
“Arsenal is one of the six top teams in England and I think they have a really good squad to fight for something important. The title, for sure.”
“This is a massive game when you play against Arsenal.”
“The same against City, United, Liverpool, Spurs. There are six top teams and when you play it is a massive game. We have to fight and play against a rival.”
[Quotes via the Express]