‘Even with their Expensive signings Chelsea will still Top them’: Rio Ferdinand would ‘love’ to see Arsenal finish below Chelsea in the Premier League this season
Rio Ferdinand would ‘love to see’ Chelsea finish above Arsenal this season and cannot see any way the Gunners will go one better than last term and win the Premier League.
Mikel Arteta’s led the way for the majority of the last campaign but were eventually hauled in and overtaken by Manchester City during the home straight and finished with something of a whimper.
Arsenal have responded with a strong show of ambition in the summer market, smashing their transfer record to sign former West Ham skipper, as well as Kai Havertz and goalkeeper David Raya.
Arteta suffered a blow earlier this week when another new recruit, Jurrien Timber, was ruled out for months with a serious knee injury.
Arsenal will miss the Dutchman sorely but Ferdinand still believes they will finish above their London rivals, despite Chelsea’s own astonishing spending spree, but won’t have enough to end their 20-year wait to be crowned champoins.
He told TNT Sport: ‘Arsenal to finish below Chelsea? As much as I would love to see that, it won’t happen.
‘Arsenal were brilliant last season. Arteta was magnificent, the recruitment again has been wonderful.
They’ve arguably had one of the best strongest transfer windows up to this point. “Declan Rice, Timber, Havertz, definitely strengthened the squad, the depth the quality.
‘I think they’ll be top three this year they won’t win the league though.’
The Gunners face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Monday night and it remains to be seen whether or not a debut will be handed to new goalkeeper Raya.
Eyebrows were raised at the decision to recruit the Spaniard given the excellence of Aaron Ramsdale since his arrival from Sheffield United, but Arteta insists increased competition can only be a good thing for his squad in the long-run.
‘When we had different goalkeepers there were questions as well,’ Arteta said in his pre-match press conference. ‘To have two excellent goalkeepers is great – there’s nothing wrong with it. We have two great left-wingers and two great strikers and two great holding midfielders. We have Jorginho, Thomas and Declan and that is not a problem, and it should not be a problem.
‘We want to be better every single day and to be better the environment has to change and be better. We tend to always be at a certain level because it’s in our nature – when you change the environment and the environment is to be 100 per cent every day, believe me, the level is going to increase.
‘I’ve seen that close up with my own eyes with the players that we have now, compared to the players we had two years ago. If we want to be better, we have to create that environment.’
