ONE OF THE BEST

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The former footballer Robert Pires is considered to be one of the legends that has played in the Arsenal jersey as he spent 6 years of his football career playing in the English club and managed to claim 2 Premier League titles as well as 3 FA Cups having made over 180 appearances and scoring 62 goals.

Pires was also named in the PFA Team of the year on 4 occasions and claimed the Premier League player of the month back in 2003, his number of accolades achieved represents his successful time when playing in Arsenal.

According to Arsene Wenger, Mesut Ozil has the potential on becoming the new Robert Pires and transforming himself into a club legend.

‘’I believe that he has a personality. He works quite hard. He is adapting to the physical challenges of the Premier League. He looks to me like Pires. It took a while for Pires to adapt to the physical side of the game. Once he had adapted he was absolutely amazing. He is a similar type of player.” Wenger stated.

The head coach of Arsenal, Arsene Wenger later went on comparing Pires with Ozil as he said that even Pires took time to settle and adapt playing on a different league and a different club.

Considering the £42 million that Arsenal had to pay in order to secure the services of the German midfielder from Real Madrid, there are a lot of reasons on why Wenger wants Ozil not only to improve but also to stay with the club for as long as he can and become a legend for Arsenal.

Not too long ago Jose Mourinho praised Ozil and said that the German player is the best No.10 in the world and even though Ozil has already made a significant impact and difference in Arsenal, Wenger wants him to become something much more than what he already is.

ARSENAL STAY TOP

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Arsenal managed to stay top of the table after a comfortable 2-0 win over Premier league strugglers Crystal Palace on Saturday. The real test for the club will be coming in the next few weeks because they will be facing the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Borussia Dortmund in successive matches. Arsene Wenger has said that this run will probably determine the rest of the season for his club. Even though Arsenal have managed to stay top of the table, there has been criticism that they have not faced any of the real title challengers up until now.

This criticism will be put to bed when they take on Chelsea in the League cup, although Chelsea manager José Mourinho has said that he will field a weakened team for this encounter. In some of the big matches that Arsenal have played, they have come second best. This was most recently in the Champions league match against Borussia Dortmund when they lost 2-1 at home to the German club. On the positive side, they have managed to win matches against Napoli and Tottenham earlier in the season.

Wenger has said that his side cannot do much other than hope to win these matches. They do not come into the matches on a good run of form.

“It is people who do not believe that we have a chance, but the only thing we can do is win our games. The only thing which is important is every win makes you a bit stronger and strengthens the belief. We have difficult games coming up, and that will be a good test, but I am confident. Crystal Palace put a shift in, they were determined to fight very hard, we needed to be patient and we were,” said Wenger after the Crystal Palace win.

WENGER UNSURE

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Manager Arsene Wenger has dampened the spirits of Arsenal fans by admitting that he does not know whether the club will be able to show off new signings before the start of the new season. Arsenal have so far seen their main rivals like Tottenham and Liverpool bring in new players to strengthen their teams. Arsenal, though, have made just one signing in the form of a free transfer to bring in an under 20 player. They have been linked with the likes of Gonzalo Higuain, Wayne Rooney, and Luis Suarez in the last few weeks.

However, the club appear to be far off from making the signing due to various reasons. After failing to convince Higuain that a move to the Emirates stadium is the right for his career, Wenger has been trying frantically to bring in Suarez from Liverpool. Higuain made the move to Napoli only a few weeks ago, which has left Arsenal with a real conundrum before the start of the season. It looks highly unlikely that Suarez will be allowed to leave for a Premier league rival, while Chelsea appear to be in the box seat to sign Rooney from Manchester United.

“Let’s count on what is here first of all and if we can add something, we will do. It is very difficult to predict that it will all be sorted out before we play in the Champions League qualifier. What we want to do is have enough quality to achieve it with the players we have. If we can have some more in before that it is even better. We need to start strongly in the championship because that will have an influence on our performance in the Champions League,” said Wenger.

This would leave a lot of Arsenal fans frustrated prior to the start of the new season.

Jose in Numbers

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Robert Pires played under some of the finest managers during his career, but he never got the chance to play under the self-proclaimed “Special One”, a certain Jose Mourinho.

The Portuguese boss started out as an interpreter for the late Sir Bobby Robson at Barcelona before making the move into coaching and eventually coming to global prominence at FC Porto, leading the side to Champions League glory. Following this success he made a move to Chelsea and instantly became one of the most famous managers in world football giving Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and co some real headaches during his stint at Stamford Bridge. Continue reading “Jose in Numbers”