Saturday’s sold-out home clash with Arsenal gives the Blues the first chance of the season to go up against one of the teams that regularly finish in the places for Champions League qualification.
With City’s 100% record added to all the attention on the club generated by this summer’s signings, Hughes does not think his men should go into the game thinking they are in their traditional role of underdog as he declared:
“I think in a short period of time we have done really well to change people’s perceptions of us. Some see us as a big threat to the so-called big four and we are quite comfortable with that.
“Those clubs have played games at the highest level, week-in, week-out for years. Their expectations, and their ability to deal with those expectations, is something they have been used to for a longer period than we have. But, that does not mean to say that we cannot overcome any of those clubs, because we have proved that we can.
It’s only United and Chelsea that have beaten Arsenal in the league since we did late last year, that shows the consistency that Arsenal have - and that is what we are aiming to achieve.
...Mark Hughes
The Gunners make their third trip to the north-west of the season on the back of losing the lead and then slipping to defeat at Old Trafford, which followed a 6-1 thrashing of Everton at Goodison Park. The Manager knows how good Arsenal can be, but he has last November’s 3-0 win at the City of Manchester Stadium as evidence that his side have nothing to fear this weekend.
“We have great respect for what Arsenal can produce when they are in full flow.” he continued. “ But they will know that we are a test at home. We were outstanding against them in that 3-0 win last year, and very good value for that win. We have no apprehensions about going up against Arsenal because we know we can compete against them.”
