Jose believes Arsenal will fight for the title

Jose Mourinho has always loved to take a dig at Arsenal. This time, it wasn’t one of his more usual potshot against the Gunners or  Arsene Wenger. In fact, Chelsea FC boss believes that Arsenal are ready to challenge for the 2015/16 Premier League title.

Speaking to the Guardian, Jose Mourinho said,

“If you add up the amounts clubs have spent in the last three or four years I think maybe you will find a surprise,if you put Ozil plus Alexis Sanchez, plus Chambers, plus Debuchy, you will find a surprise. It’s a fantastic squad with good players, fantastic goalkeeper, they are more than ready to be a title contenders.”

Following their invincibles of 2003/04, Arsenal have not won the Premier League and in the last decade, they have not finished higher than 3. However, following a long trophy drought, the Gunners have finally made additions to their trophy cabinet in the Emirates with two FA Cups and the FA Community Shield.

There has been a shift in the Gunners transfer policy. They never made big deals as Arsenal were looking to first pay off the construction of the Emirates. However, that has changed with Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Mathieu Debuchy, Calum Chambers, Danny Welbeck being some of the high value transfers brought in. Arsenal Director, Lord Harris has even claimed the Gunners have £200 million in their banks and can fight for some of the big name players in the market.

2014/15 saw the Gunners finish 13 points behind Champions, Chelsea. However, they finally solved their issues in the goalkeeping department, with the acquisition of Petr Cech for around £11 million. Both Jose and Chelsea Captain believe that Cech could save Arsenal 12-15 points a season. If we add that to their deficit, Arsenal should be right in the mix for the Premier League title.

The Gunners face Chelsea at least three times next season. August 2, 2015 will see them face off in the FA Community Shield. The first Premier League match between the sides is on September 19, 2015 at Stamford Bridge, and the return fixture on January 23, 2016. There might even be encounters in the Champions League (although highly unlikely), Capital One Cup and the FA Cup.

Whatever be the case, this will more than likely be the last positive news Jose will give about Arsenal, before renewing his usual in season rivalry with Wenger.