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Arsene Wenger believes the Premier League is more competitive now than it has ever been as he prepares for a twentieth season at the Arsenal helm.
The manager’s 1996 arrival in England was greeted with headlines of “Arsene Who”. Now the manager has gone on to be one of the most successful in the history of the English game, having revolutionized Arsenal and created a club firmly in his own image.
However it has been over a decade since his last Premier League title, a period in which well-funded sides such as Chelsea and Manchester City have emerged to challenge Wenger. For Arsenal that creates more challenging league, in which a top two finish is no longer to be taken for granted.
Wenger said: “The Premier League has always moved forward and Arsenal has as well. There’s that mixture that is right in England and I hope we can keep that.
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“The competitiveness of the league has become much stronger in the last 20 years. The change of structures inside the club has unbelievably changed, and the interest of the media and popularity of the sport has grown so much.
“On the other hand, the clubs have taken a different dimension. When I arrived Arsenal Football Club was 80 people. Today it’s 537. That tells you how much football has changed and that is tremendous. Hopefully in 20 years we will be 2,500.”
But the Arsenal manager admits he has found himself falling in love with the league over his time at Highbury and the Emirates.
“I have learnt to love English football,” he said. “I was always impressed by it [before] but I think I’ve learnt the culture of the country much better and the culture of Arsenal Football Club.
“There is a mixture in England that is absolutely special. It’s this respect for tradition that makes you feel as though the game was created here.
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“The Premier League has always moved forward and Arsenal has as well. There’s that mixture that is right in England and I hope we can keep that.”
