Jack Wilshere insists Arsenal have the squad to compete with Chelsea

While Arsenal are currently in Singapore for preseason training, midfielder Jack Wilshere took time for a short interview with the Daily Mail.  The 23-year-old claimed that the Gunners have the talent and squad depth to rival the reigning Premier League champions, and crosstown rivals, Chelsea.

“Competition is a good thing,” said Wilshere.  “Look at the teams who have won the league in the past and look at Chelsea last year.  They had a great squad and we feel we’ve got a squad to match them now.”

The Gunner midfielder went on to say, “The Premier League is a tough, tough league.  Add to that the FA Cup, League Cup and international breaks and players will pick up injuries, so it’s important to have players who can come in.”

The north London outfit surely has the defensive depth to bring home the title, especially with the addition of goalkeeper, and former Chelsea star, Petr Cech.  The Czech Republic international helped bring the Blues into the upper echelon of English soccer, winning four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, and a Champions League trophy during his 11-year stay in west London.

Along with the newly acquired Cech, Arsenal have solid competition and depth at both full back positions, as well as at center back.  Nacho Monreal, Kieran Gibbs, Mathieu Debuchy, Hector Bellerin, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, and Gabriel are all dependable in Arsenal’s back line.

Arsenal are also loaded with offensive-minded midfielders.  Santi Cazorla, Mesut Özil, Aaron Ramsey, Tomas Rosicky, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, along with the multi-talented Wilshere (and perhaps Serge Gnabry), give the Gunners plenty of options in the middle of the pitch.

The defensive midfield position has been somewhat of an achilles heal for the Gunners in recent years; however, Francis Coquelin has taken over the reins in the space just in front of the back four.  Although Coquelin was absolutely fantastic during the second half of last season, manager Arsene Wenger should be hesitant about relying on Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta as backups to the 24-year-old Coquelin.

Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, and Danny Welbeck give Arsenal an adequate attack up front, but a world-class center forward may be the final piece of the puzzle to push the Gunners to their 14th league title.  There has been plenty of speculation this summer of Wenger moving for top talents such as Karim Benzema, Gonzalo Higuain, and Jackson Martinez (before his switch to Atletico Madrid); however, the Frenchman has yet to pull the trigger on a deal just yet.

Over the last few years, Arsenal has had difficulties putting together a full season of playing at a high level.  The club stutter stepped out of the gates during the 2014-15 campaign, only to be one of the best teams in the league over the last five months of the season.  With Arsenal avoiding a tricky Champions League qualifier in August due to finishing third in the table last season (instead of fourth), the Gunners will have a less hectic schedule to begin their new season.  If they can play an entire campaign as they did in the first half of 2015, Arsenal can certainly challenge anyone for the Premier League title.