
Instant hit: Andrey Arshavin celebrates on his way to scoring four goals for Arsenal at Liverpool last season
Andrey Arshavin admits that Arsenal face a fight to stay in the top four after losing Emmanuel Adebayor to Manchester City. The Russia star insists the Gunners still have one of the strongest teams in the country but is expecting City, Aston Villa, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur to be pushing hard for Champions League qualification next season.
After a stunning start to his career in England, Arsenal will be relying even more on their £15million signing from Zenit St Petersburg. And while Arshavin believes that Adebayor will be difficult to replace following his £25m departure, he believes it would have been wrong to hold on to an unhappy player.
Arshavin insists only Arsenal, United, Chelsea or Liverpool can win the league next season, but he is also wary of threats to his side's Big Four status.
'The champions will be exactly one of those four teams,' he said. 'With regard to the fight for the Champions League, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Everton and Tottenham will join them.'
Everton, United and City are three of Arsenal's first four opponents, with Portsmouth making up what Arshavin sees as being a tricky start to the League campaign.
But the forward seems to have one eye on his New Year's Eve celebrations when assessing the fixture list. 'The positive thing I see is that we do not play on January 1. On the other hand, we have a very difficult start, with four serious contenders at the very beginning.
'Then will be the Champions League matches and getting into this tournament is one of the main objectives at the start of the season. It won't be easy, but I hope that we can handle it.'
at least he is realistic
I beg to differ. we shall see 10 games into the season.
every season say spurs challenging for 4 place, what happened to them in the past 2 seasons? as for city, buying is one thing, gelling together is another. lets see if they are top 4 material by November.
Originally posted by duanyuqiao:at least he is realistic
He's being HUMBLE. I like that
Arshavin i glad u say we fighting 4 the 4th spot
u all juz work hard if u all can, nvm if u all cant get trophy juz bring Arsenal to 4th spot can lia0
5th spot also can if u lose 4th spot (i dun mind) ![]()
Originally posted by marcteng:I beg to differ. we shall see 10 games into the season.
every season say spurs challenging for 4 place, what happened to them in the past 2 seasons? as for city, buying is one thing, gelling together is another. lets see if they are top 4 material by November.
arsenal and liverpool have been 1st in the first 10 games for 2 years already