Wenger fears another slow Arsenal start

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Wenger fears another slow Arsenal start
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and Petr Cech celebrate winning the Community Shield (Reuters)

London - Arsenal have lost three of their last four opening games

By AFP

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Published: Mon 7 Aug 2017, 8:35 PM

Last updated: Mon 7 Aug 2017, 10:38 PM

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes the strength of competition in the Premier League means his side cannot afford another false start if they are to challenge for the title.
Arsenal have lost three of their last four opening games, with last term's 4-3 defeat at home to Liverpool setting the tone for a campaign in which they missed out on Champions League qualification for the first time since 1997.
Wenger's men launch the new campaign at home to Leicester City on Friday and he urged his players to harness the momentum from a promising pre-season that culminated in victory over Chelsea in Sunday's Community Shield.
"We want to find a good balance between the confidence we can get out of these games and the urgency that every Premiership game demands," he told reporters at Wembley.
"We had some bad starts in the last four years in the first game of the Premiership. "But we had the intensity in our preparation games that is needed to be ready so let's go into the Premiership with the same discipline, the same spirit, and see where we can go. "If you look at the Premiership, you have seven, eight teams who will say, 'We can win the Premier League.' That makes it very interesting."
Arsenal beat Chelsea 4-1 on penalties to win the Community Shield for the third time in four years after the game finished 1-1.
Arsenal were without Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey, with the former still regaining fitness after the Confederations Cup and the two other players nursing minor injuries.
Wenger said Ozil had a "little chance" of playing against Leicester after taking a kick on the ankle in training and said Ramsey was in a similar position as he works to overcome a "little calf problem"
 


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