William Gallas insists Arsenal are ready to prove they are genuine
title contenders and not just young pretenders.
The French international has seen a change in attitude among the
Clubs younger players since returning to pre-season training and
says they are determined to demonstrate their title
credentials.
They are professionals and they have had one more year's
experience behind them, said Gallas, speaking at the London launch
of the Premier Leagues Creating Chances campaign. As far as I'm
concerned they will be ready this season. I realised that during
pre-season. What I saw during the tournaments - against Paris
St-Germain, Inter, Ajax and Lazio - it was different.
The spirit was different. Everybody fought for his team-mate and
when you see that you realise. I don't know why it's changed but
something clearly has. I can't call them 'the kids' - they're not
kids any more - but the young players really want to win a trophy.
They won't be bullied this season. They don't want people to keep
saying Arsenal are just young kids. When I train with them I don't
see them as young kids any more. I see only players who are ready
to fight this season.
With many of Arsenals rivals spending record amounts this summer,
Gallas believes the battle for the Premiership will no longer be
restricted to the Big Four. With Arsenal themselves buoyed by the
signings of Eduardo and Bacary Sagna, the defender has warned
Chelsea and Manchester United there are more teams than ever vying
to end their duopoly over the league crown.
People talk only about [Manchester] United or Chelsea winning the
league, though this season will be different, he said. A lot of
clubs will be ready for the title race, like Tottenham, like
Portsmouth, like us. So the Premier League will be very
exciting.
This pre-season hasn't gone too badly. The Ajax game was a bit
tough but, in the end, we did a good job. That has helped our
confidence going into the season.
I don't think a team can beat us by being more physical than us
this season. I think we can give a good answer. There are teams
that just want to play the long ball and you have to be ready. You
have to be physical and to fight and I think we will be physical
enough to cope with that this time.
There are other clubs, like Arsenal, who will also be challenging
and no-one can say who is definitely going to win the title.