Mikel Arteta paid a compliment to Frank Lampard, naming Arsenal’s Boxing Day opponents Chelsea as having the ‘strongest squad’ in the Premier League.
Arteta’s Gunners host Frank Lampard’s side at the Emirates on Saturday, hoping to end a winless run of seven Premier League matches. Chelsea fortuitously managed to put an end to their own consecutive two-match losing streak with a 3-0 win over West Ham five days ago and would be able to ascend to second place in the table with a positive result against Arteta’s men.
However, the situation would be bleak for the Gunners should results go against them as Arsenal could slip to 17th place with Arteta admitting that the London derby is an incredibly tough fixture.
And he rates Chelsea’s squad above all others in the Premier League.
‘Well obviously, Chelsea always have great players and a great squad,’ said Arteta.
‘The team that we faced a few months ago was a top one. In this moment, probably you’re talking about the strongest squad in the Premier League.
‘They’re doing a really good job, I think Frank is doing a really good job, he’s got a team full of belief and confidence.
‘Even though in the last results they got some defeats, they got back winning yesterday.
‘And it’s a team that is going to be fighting in the top teams of the league for sure.’
While Chelsea were able to break the kitty to splash the cash in the summer, spending more than £200million on the likes of Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech and Kai Havertz, Arteta refused to be envious of the resources available to Frank Lampard.
‘I wouldn’t like to compare,’ he added. ‘It’s what they did. It seems to be working fine and at the moment we are not there.’