Petr Cech believes Arsenal are better equipped to win the Premier League title this season due to the depth and strength in the squad.
The Gunners have been in impressive form in their opening 11 Premier League games, winning seven of them, and currently occupying third place in the table. In addition to this, Arsene Wenger’s side have also clinched qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League with two games still left to play.
Arsenal’s form will undoubtedly give the Emirates faithful renewed hope that this could be the season they end their 12-year Premier League title drought, and with three new faces coming in before the start of the current campaign, Cech believes the new additions to the squad will aid the club’s push for top spot.
The 34-year-old goalkeeper said:
‘I think the first [quality we have] is the strength in depth.
‘When we were unlucky with long-term injuries last season, we had to use the same players in so many games and you lack energy in certain parts of the season.
‘We dropped points because we couldn’t rotate. This season we have strength in depth.
‘I think we are as strong as anybody else in the league. The league is very competitive but I think we are one of the teams who has all the qualities to compete for the title and we know that.’
The Gunners have mounted several title challenges since their ‘Invincibles’ season only to repeatedly fall short of the mark.
But Cech is adamant that Arsenal’s problems stemmed down to the fact that the club failed to keep hold of their best players.
He told the official Arsenal website:
‘The major difference is that four or five years ago the club was forced to sell their best players and tried to build the team around young players.
‘Now the team is built the way the manager wants. In the last three years we bought [Alexis] Sanchez, Mesut [Ozil] and Granit [Xhaka].
‘Together with all the experience of the players who had been here for a long time we have great balance in the team.’
So, Are Arsenal better equipped than previous seasons to finally end their Premier League title drought? Only time will tell. However, I do believe we have a strong enough squad to compete for the title, but we need to be consistent throughout the season – something we have failed to do in the past.
