Mourinho set for Arsenal vs. Chelsea

The Premier League returns next week and to get us in the mood, it’s Arsenal vs. Chelsea in the Community Shield on Sunday. It’s a chance to lay down a marker for the rest of the campaign as Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho do battle once again and ESPN FC bloggers Tom Adams (Arsenal) and Mark Worrall (Chelsea) take us through what to expect.

How’s your summer been so far compared to Sunday’s opponents?

Tom Adams: Let’s put it this way: win on Saturday and Barcelona’s reign as Europe’s most recent treble-winners is over. In all seriousness, it’s been a pretty good summer with victories in the Barclays Asia Trophy and the Emirates Cup against half-decent opposition. While John Terry has spent his preseason getting elbowed by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Mikel Arteta has picked up a couple of pieces of silverware and Arsenal’s performances have been impressive too, particularly the 6-0 demolition of Lyon.

The natural retort to this is that preseason results don’t actually mean anything. And that is correct: they surely don’t. But still, the summer’s events have been cause for optimism. In terms of transfers, signing one of Chelsea’s most beloved players in Petr Cech, and against the wishes of Jose Mourinho too, was tremendously enjoyable. Especially when Chelsea’s own summer maneuvres have largely amounted to signing his replacement and little else of real consequence.

Mark Worrall: Like for like, compared to the all-conquering Gunners, the Blues’ preseason has been poor. After going all those seasons without winning a trophy, Arsenal supporters have every right to be enthusiastic about the coming campaign having won the Barclays Asia Trophy and the Emirates Cup.

Joking aside, Arsene Wenger’s men finished last season strongly and recent friendly results suggest Arsenal have kept the momentum going through the summer and are ready to mount a serious bid for the Premier League title. In the wake of losing to New York Red Bulls and drawing with Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona, Blues boss Jose Mourinho succinctly summed up the feelings of the majority of Chelsea supporters when he said, “Preseason is fake, for good and bad. If you’re bad, it’s fake, and if you’re good it’s fake.” Preseason is all about fitness and bonding. If there was evidence of a stronger dressing room at the Emirates, or anywhere else, then I’d be worried.

Source: www.espnfc.com