Wenger, Mancini talk up clash

Arsene Wenger is convinced the winner of the clash with Manchester City on Sunday will gain a psychological edge in the title race.

Arsenal have enjoyed an unbeaten start to their campaign, cruising to a 6-1 victory over Southampton in their last Premier League outing.

Wenger’s side have recovered from the loss of Robin van Persie in impressive fashion, with new signings Santi Cazorla and Lukas Podolski already proving to be strong additions to the squad.

“I have no doubt about the desire and hunger of my squad.” Wenger told reporters.

“Tomorrow will just tell you how strong we are at the moment.

“It is the beginning of the championship and you know that this game can have a big influence on the belief of both teams, so who will have the upper hand has a psychological advantage,

“On that front it’s a very exciting game and while it is still very early in the season, already it is a very important game for me.”

Wenger is adamant that his side have room for improvement.

“The hunger is massive in this squad. They want to do well, they are focused and they want to win. We want to continue to improve.

“Manchester City didn’t win the championship last year by 10 points, it was in the last two minutes, so it was very, very tight, and I think it will be very tight again this year.”

Meanwhile, City manager Roberto Mancini has labelled Arsenal as tough opponents.

“They are one of the best teams in the world,” he told reporters.

“They played very well at Liverpool away recently and that showed this will be a difficult game for us. They are very strong, especially with counter-attacking.”

Mancini also repeated his belief that City will have to spend money in the January transfer window in order to retain their title.

“If we want to stay on top with all the other teams that spend a lot of money in the last 10 years we need to improve and buy top players,” he said.

“It is usually more difficult to stay on top. It can happen that you can win the title because you play well or because you are lucky. We deserved to win last year but the second year is always more difficult.

“There were a lot of teams in the past spending money for big players, including Arsenal. This is normal.

“For us it was difficult. We needed to buy good players if we wanted to improve. We had the chance to take good players and we did this.

“All the managers talk about the money we have all the time, but on the pitch we have 11 players like all the others.”