Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta believes the gunners’ Boxing Day opponents Chelsea currently have the ‘strongest squad’ in the Premier League.
Arsenal will play the blues at the Emirates on Saturday, hoping to end a run of seven Premier League games without a win.
Chelsea put an end to their own two-game losing streak with a 3-0 victory over West Ham five days ago and can move to second in the table with a positive result against Arteta’s side.
Should they lose, Arsenal could slip to 17th and Arteta recognises the London derby as a tough fixture. And he rates Chelsea’s squad above the others in the Premier League.
‘Well obviously, Chelsea always have great players and a great squad,’ said Arteta.
‘The team that we faced a few months ago was a top one. In this moment, probably you’re talking about the strongest squad in the Premier League.
‘They’re doing a really good job, I think Frank is doing a really good job, he’s got a team full of belief and confidence.
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‘Even though in the last results they got some defeats, they got back winning yesterday. ‘And it’s a team that is going to be fighting in the top teams of the league for sure.’
Chelsea were able to spend more than £200m on players like Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz but Arteta has refused to be envious at the resources available to Lampard.
‘I wouldn’t like to compare,’ he added. ‘It’s what they did. It seems to be working fine and at the moment we are not there.’
