Gilberto says Arsenal have a mountain to climb
September 21, 2005
Gilberto: Catching Chelsea will be hard
Arsenal midfielder Gilberto Silva admits the club have a mountain to climb if they are to overhaul Chelsea at the top of the Premiership table.
The Brazilian believes The Gunners are in a transitional period after selling Patrick Vieira in the summer and the recent defeat at Stamford Bridge, along with a surprise reverse at Middlesbrough, has allowed the champions to streak clear at the summit.
Chelsea are currently nine points ahead of their London rivals, although Arsenal do have a game in hand.
“It’s a big difference,” Gilberto revealed on Sky Sports News. “A big gap between the teams.
“We need to climb the mountain, step-by-step, and see what’s going to happen.
“If you allow them to get points and we lose a lot of points, we will make it very difficult at the end.
“I think we [will] produce a good result in the future but now we are in the process of change. We changed some things, some players left the squad and it made everything hard in the beginning.”
Gilberto admits he misses Vieira following the former Highbury captain’s switch to Juventus in Serie A.
“When it happened, it caused a big impact in all of the players,” he conceded.
“But now we realise he’s definitely gone and we need to play without him.
“Wherever he goes, we will follow his team and support him – wherever he goes. But we need to realise now we need to play without him and do our best for the club.”