Premier League | Who said what ahead of Gameweek 25

Premier League | Who said what ahead of Gameweek 25

no photo

|

© Getty Images

After a disappointing result against Chelsea last week, Arsene Wenger has refused to accept defeat in the title race stating that if they are out of it, so is everyone else. Chelsea boss Antonio Conte echoed Wenger's comments saying that all six teams are still capable of winning the Premier League.

Arsenal

"It is never over. Even if you [the media] think it is, I don't - we can't think like that. We're in a pack that is very tight and the fight for every position will be massive, maybe more this season than before," Wenger said during the pre-match press conference. 

"If it is over for us, it is over for everyone else as we are all in the pack."

During last weekend's game at Stamford Bridge, a fan held out a plaque card reading, "Enough is enough. Time to go," showing the growing resentment towards Wenger. The Arsenal manager, however, said that the "blame culture" was tearing the fans apart and called for the fans to be united. 

“The team wins and the team loses. When you win sometimes some players are singled out as they are treated like exceptional players but when you don’t do well sometimes just focus on a little bit more of the team aspect and not try to blame each other," Wenger said.

“The blame culture is part of the perception of people as you say, but what is important is that we show that we are united. We have a good opportunity to show that we are a united strong unit and that we can bounce back."

Read full press conference here.

Chelsea

Chelsea find themselves in a comfortable position with 14 games to go, but Antonio Conte doesn't want any sort of complacency to creep into his side as he made it clear during his press conference. Conte said that the top six teams were still in contention for the title and that the London club should not make any mistakes that could help their rivals.

"I think there are six teams who are very strong and can fight to win the title. Manchester United? Yes. They have a great squad," said Conte.

"There are 14 games to play and five teams as well as us who can fight to win it. It's important we don't make mistakes in the race."

Read full press conference here. 

Manchester United

During his press conference at Carrington, Jose Mourinho was more interested in talking about his team rather than the others. He gave injury updates on Phil Jones and Wayne Rooney but the biggest news was that the Portuguese was "totally convinced" that Ibrahimovic would sign an extension at Old Trafford. 

"He came with intention of staying two years and the first year is going better than every expectation," the boss said. "He knows we are going to try again to improve next season and try to share with him in a fantastic way probably the last year of his career at the highest level," Mourinho said.

"Every team needs four central defenders. But we coped well without Eric. Now it’s time for Jones to be out and time for Eric to be in."

Read full press conference here.

Liverpool 

Liverpool's wretched run of form, one win in 2017, has seen them slip outside the top four places and they now face an in form Tottenham Hotspur. Jurgen Klopp said that the game was a tricky one for them because both results would be interpreted as expected ones due to Liverpool's record against the top 6 sides in the league.

"It’s rather positive than anything else, but it doesn’t help a lot. It’s not that we think now, ‘OK, thank God we’re playing Tottenham and nobody else’ or something like this. We brought ourselves into a situation where if we play really good and win – which will be really difficult, as everybody knows – then everybody will say, ‘Against the top teams, they are good,’" Klopp told journalists at Anfield. 

"But if we don’t perform, it’s another not-good information for us, so we have to make sure we are really ready for this game. Then we will think about other issues; we have maybe two weeks after the Tottenham game to solve all the other problems, if there are still any, so that’s the job [we have] to do."

Read full press conference here.

Tottenham Hotspurs

A win for Spurs would see them open a seven-point gap over opponents Liverpool but Mauricio Pochettino asserted that he was worried about opening a lead over Liverpool, who he said had one of the best squads in Europe, but rather chasing down Chelsea at the top of the table. 

“Yes but I am thinking at the top of the table so that is not a problem today. The important thing is to try to get the three points because our objective is to try to reduce the gap to Chelsea and for that we need to be ready to fight because it will be a very, very difficult game. They are not on a good run but Liverpool have very good players – for me it’s one of the best squads, not only in England but in Europe. Be sure that they will be motivated because always Liverpool v Tottenham is a big match,” the Argentine said.

Read full press conference here.

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all