Claudio Ranieri has admitted he is surprised Arsenal have not won a title in 11 years, because the last time he was in the Premier League, as Chelsea manager, they went through the league season unbeaten.
“When I was at Chelsea, they were the Invincibles,” the Leicester City manager said. “That was an unbelievable achievement, so it is surprising they have not won the league since. In my time at Chelsea I only managed to beat them once in 14 attempts. It is a bad record, but every match was a good game, always very open. I don’t know why Arsenal have had to wait so long, because Arsène Wenger is a good manager and he brings in good players, but maybe it is not so easy to replace players such as Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Fredrik Ljungberg and all the defenders.”
Leicester are shaping up as ‘invincibles’ at the moment, as the only team in the league with an unbeaten record, though Ranieri is not getting carried away just yet. “We have come from behind on the last couple of occasions and we cannot keep doing that,” he said. “We must concentrate a little more. It is not easy scoring goals when you are behind in a game.
“To beat Arsenal we must do the perfect match, no mistakes. Arsenal are great to watch, they are smart, fast and technical. They are ready to fight for the title again in my opinion. Maybe not the Champions League just yet, but in the league they are growing stronger. I think they have a chance. On Saturday we are going to have a very big match on our hands, because it is difficult to find a weakness in the present Arsenal team.”
Ranieri does have the satisfaction of going into the weekend higher than the London team in the table, however, and although Nathan Dyer is still not ready to play he has few injury worries and a team full of self-belief.
“Maybe something changed last season before I arrived, but there is fight and determination in the squad,” he said. “I am proud of some of our performances, especially fighting back in losing situations. When we are desperate we play well. Perhaps we need to be desperate.”
