Sky Sports football pundit and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry is expecting one of the most fiercely contested title races in several years with any number of clubs ending up as possible champions.
Last season Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea cruised to the title right from the start to finish without any other club ever threatening to catch the Blues up.
Chelsea cruised to the title after losing just three games, with Jose Mourinho’s side leading the table from start to finish.
“In my time, before Chelsea came along to battle with us and Manchester United, you guys knew it was all going to be Arsenal or United winning the league,” he said.
“So the competition was within those two teams. That is why I think it is harsh, because when you think about it, before this year Chelsea hadn’t won the league for four-years, and we all know the amount of time that Arsenal did not win the league.
“So Chelsea win it and we are all like: ‘United are going to come back for sure, Manchester City are going to come back for sure and Arsenal are going to come back for sure’. What about Liverpool? You think they are going to stay out?
“Have a look at the competition now to win the league. It is very, very, very difficult, so I expect everyone is going to challenge them, everyone is going to try to make sure they can win the title.
“Because if I said to you: ‘City cannot have the same season again, Arsenal cannot stay another year without winning the league, United won’t accept not winning the league two years in a row’ – that does not go down too well over there. What about Liverpool? So I expect everyone to challenge them.”
And while the Frenchman expects the top-four to be a mix of the same he also would not be surprised if a team came out of nowhere to shake things up as Liverpool did during the 2013/2014 season.
“You would like to point at the usual subjects – United, Arsenal and City – but who would have said Liverpool a year ago would have nearly won the league? No one saw that coming,” he added.
“So you always have a surprise and you don’t know when that is going to happen and maybe it is going to be a team that is going to surprise the other teams next season. But you would like to think it will be the same kind of top four.”
Henry who still maintains the highlight of his career was Arsenal’s unbeaten 2003/2004 season.
“My personal one has to be us being invincible, because it is an achievement,” he said.
“I know we didn’t win the league eight, nine times, like United did, but it will go down in the history of the league as an achievement and something really special.
“At the time when we did it – I am not going to talk about it even more as we all know the story – we didn’t think people were still going to talk about it and talk about it the way they are talking about it. But yes it is my personal one and obviously I am going to mention us going unbeaten.”
However saying all that, Henry feels that Arsenal is capable of doing it again, except this time with more style.
“Yes I think it will happen again. A team can do it in a better way: less draws, more goals, less goals conceded.”
