Arsenal v Chelsea: Arteta “This is not over”, they will still believe they are in it says Lampard, Klopp’s rebuild

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has rejected claims that the Premier League title race is done and dusted now that Manchester City is top saying: “This is not over”. At the same time Lampard’s Chelsea says “It could be either way,” as the Gunners “ still believe they are in it and rightly so.” Meanwhile, Jürgen Klopp says Liverpool will not repeat the Blue’s mass recruitment as he prepares this summer rebuild.

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Arteta: v Chelsea, “What is in our hands is to win our games. That’s what we try to do and the rest is down to City.

Arsenal have been leading the table for 247 days this season, and now they sit in second place for the first time since February after Manchester City beat Fulham 2-1 on Super Sunday to go one point straight from the Gunners with a game in hand.

“Now it is not in our hands,” Arteta said. “What is in our hands is to win our games. That’s what we try to do and the rest is down to City. “I know what we’re trying to do. We have the nicest part of the season to play with five games to go. This is not over. I would pay a lot of money to be in this position next season, believe me.”

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Arsenal can move back to the summit if they beat Chelsea tonight at 10:00 pm at Emirates Stadium. However, City would then have the opportunity to move back in front by winning against West Ham on Wednesday.

“It’s not something that I saw in last week, if not they would have won every single Premier League game and they haven’t.”

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For Arsenal to lift the Premier League, the Gunners realistically need to win their five remaining games without a blink and hope City slip up twice.

“Within the disappointment [of the loss to City last week] and the spirit around it, there are two things: the first one is to recognize what a lot of people have done a the club to get us back into the Champions League, which was already a difficult thing to achieve and not a lot of people were optimistic that we could do that at the start of the season.

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Asked what Arteta has seen in the last week to give him hope that City will drop the necessary points, the Arsenal manager responded: “How tough it is to win every single game.

“The second thing, and this is what I like the most, is even after achieving this with six games to go – which is something that has not happened for more than a decade at this club – we are still not satisfied, we are upset and we want more.

Despite losing 4-1 to City in a title decider last week, Arsenal still secured Champions League football for the first time since 2017.

“We want to be the club we want to be – to be consistent with the best. That is what I’ve loved the most about the last few days.”

Lampard: Arsenal still in race | Auba fit to face Gunners

In the Chelsea backyard, caretaker manager Frank Lampard says there are still enough chances and moments for Arsenal to get back in front in the Premier League title race, as he prepares to take his team to the Emirates Stadium.

“It could be either way,” said Lampard. “They [Arsenal] are very much in the hunt still to win the Premier League. They are a fantastic team, and they are having a great season.

“If they’re wounded slightly, they could have a big reaction. If we can make things difficult for them, then that could of course be different. It’s a hard one to call.”

Lampard knows the ins and outs of a Premier League title race having won the competition three times as a player and says Arsenal are still in the hunt.

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When asked if Arsenal are still in the title race, he added:  

“There are fully in it. Manchester City have shown some incredible form and we fully respect that, but we also have to respect what Arsenal have done this year. They will still believe they are in it and rightly so.”

Lampard also insists Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is “fit and ready” to face his former club on Tuesday night.

The striker, who has played just 190 minutes of football for Chelsea since the turn of the year, has been a bit of part player for the Blues, but as the club’s only recognized striker there have been calls for him to return to lead the line in a bid to end their struggles in front of goal.

He said: “We’ll see. I’ve got Auba, got Kai, got David Fofana. I’m not going to divulge the team right here, but Aubameyang is fit and ready.”

When asked if Aubameyang’s Arsenal connection comes into his thoughts for selection, Lampard added in that Chelsea scored just one goal in April in seven matches and asked if Aubameyang, who scored 68 Premier League goals in five seasons with the Gunners, could face his former side, Lampard didn’t rule it out.

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“Possibly because we do think that a player going back to his old club can give a certain motivation. “I haven’t delved too much into that with Auba but I will pick that position on my feeling of how the players have trained and what the team structure looks like.

Arsenal’s remaining fixtures

May 2: Chelsea (H) – Premier League, kick-off 10 pm

May 7: Newcastle (A) – Premier League, kick-off 6.30 pm

May 13: Brighton (H) – Premier League, kick-off 5 pm

May 20: Nottingham Forest (A) – Premier League, kick-off 7.30 pm

May 28: Wolves (H) – Premier League, kick-off 6.30 pm

Jürgen Klopp’s summer rebuild as Liverpool will not repeat Chelsea’s mass recruitment

Since Todd Boehly’s takeover of the club, Chelsea has smashed the British transfer record, spending over Ksh. 102.0 billion on transfers for 17 players, and sacked two managers that is Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter.

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Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool will not repeat Chelsea’s mass recruitment mistakes as he prepares to enter the transfer market this summer.

“We will do business and I understand that football is crazy, it always is,” Klopp said. “It means that because Liverpool is doing well, we need five, six or seven players.

Chelsea’s transfer decisions have been more of a poison, undoubtedly contributing to the downfall of Potter and the club’s ongoing troubles under Frank Lampard, with the Blues languishing in 12th in the Premier League.

“I feel a little bit for Chelsea to be honest because they are a top, top team. But it’s good to see that you can’t just bring top players together and hope it works out.”

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, Klopp revealed he empathized with Chelsea’s plight. However, ahead of spearheading Liverpool’s summer transfer business, also expressed happiness at seeing their big-money spending strategy fail.

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“You have to bring a team and that’s what their guys [the owners] there [at Chelsea] underestimated and gave their coaches an impossible job to do.

Klopp insists his strong relationship with Liverpool’s principal owner John W. Henry and director Mike Gordon protects against Chelsea’s mistakes from being repeated on Merseyside.

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“You cannot have two dressing rooms; you cannot train on two pitches. You have to have team spirit. That’s the only reason why I’m happy about [Chelsea’s failure].

“Chelsea will be fine because they will be fine in the end and be incredibly strong. It’s an example at the highest level where you can’t do it like that. You have to bring in the right players and build a new team. This team had a sensational story, now we write a new story.”

“We have a really good relationship, he [John W. Henry] is a really good guy,” Klopp added. “He cares a lot about us but the real work starts with Mike Gordon. John is above all of us. We have the work to do on the next level below and it’s all fine.”