Wenger - Our stability gives us strength

Arsene Wenger believes that Arsenal’s stability should be a major asset this season.

The Gunners have signed goalkeeper Petr Cech while keeping together the squad that retained the FA Cup last term and finished in third place.

In previous years Wenger has lost key players over the summer, but he feels that the change in the club’s finances has made a huge difference.

“When you lose your best players it’s impossible [to win the title] and when you see that some other opponents have strengthened their squad and are already stronger than you, it’s difficult,” the manager said.

“We only just got in the top four [previously] because we managed to grab every point but you see other teams still strengthening their team and you’re losing your best players, it’s difficult to be convinced that you can win the league.

“What is true [now] is that we have a stability that we did not have before on the squad front. Before, I was more exposed to who will go and now the question I get more is, ‘who will come in?’

“That means that our potential on the market has changed. Will we win the Premier League? We’ll give it absolutely everything, but it’s a very awkward competition. You have five or six competitors. We have a stability that gives us strength, but it’s very difficult to guess how strong the other teams will be.”

While Wenger is open to strengthening his squad, he says retaining his current squad is just as important.

“[Stability] is undervalued but that’s what we want to show,” he said. “Chelsea have a good stability, especially defensively, and they took advantage of it from the start of last season.

“What you could say is that last year we missed our start for different reasons. One of them was that some players were not mentally ready after the World Cup. It was also because we had the Champions League qualifier and that cost us a lot of energy against Besiktas.

“We have a tricky start again. West Ham look to have bought well and Crystal Palace are a strong team. We have to be ready from the beginning but it will be a tricky start.”