In what could perhaps be seen as a slight dig to his other teammates,Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has named Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Granit Xhaka as the keyplayers who can help fire the Gunners to the Premier League title, in an interview with Arsenal.com.
Hey. At least he didn't name himself.
Cech, 34, has revealed that the Gunners are 'better equipped' this time round to win the league.
The former Chelsea stopper said: "I think the first [quality we have] is the strength in depth. When we were unlucky with long-term injuries last season, we had to use the same players in so many games and you lack energy in certain parts of the season.
"We dropped points because we couldn't rotate. This season we have strength in depth, you could see in the Champions League and domestic cup [games] and for the Premier League we keep using different players or can use the same players."
Alluding to the old 'selling club' jibes, the Czech 'keeper spoke of the changes atthe club over the past few seasons.
He said: "The major difference is that four or five years ago the club was forced to sell their best players and tried to build the team around young players."
Cechcited thetrio askey figures in helping tobringthe Premier League trophy back to Arsenal for the first time since 2004.
Now, the team is built the way the manager wants. In the last three years we bought [Alexis] Sanchez, Mesut [Ozil] and Granit [Xhaka]."
While Sanchez and Ozil have provided the firepower so farto the tune of nine leaguegoals and seven assistsbetween them, latest summer signing Granit Xhaka has alsoearned praise for some steely displays in centre midfield.
Xhaka returned to action in the north London derby on Sunday after picking up a controversial red card. The Swiss international's tough tackling earned him his marching ordersagainst Swansea,but was seemingly unlucky in the eyes of many fans and pundits.
Four-time Premier League title winner Cech will be poised to take on Manchester United at Old Trafford after the international break, and will behoping Sanchez can recover in time for the clash - he suffered an injury scare while training with Chile ahead of their game against Colombia.
According to reports in the Daily Mail, Arsenal want the player to return to London to make their own assessment of the suspected calf injury.