Arsene Attacks

Arsene Wenger declared that Arsenal would attempt to attack their way to the title as he vowed not to compromise his expansive style to keep pace with Chelsea.

Chelsea have strengthened their squad since winning the title by a 12-point margin last season, with Asier del Horno and Shaun Wright-Phillips both signed, while Michael Essien is still being targeted.

Arsenal, meanwhile, have added another attacking alternative in Alexander Hleb, but lost defensive midfielder Patrick Vieira and thereby reduced both their physical strength and height in central areas.

Wenger will remain true to his attacking instincts, having seen his side outscore Chelsea by 87 goals to 72 in last season's title race.

"We play our style, the football we love, and try to be faithful to that," he declared.

"When you get a guy who comes into Highbury and pays £50 to watch a game, he knows that he will see goals.

"You can't expect me to say to him 'sorry my friend, you will still spend £50 but you will not see goals any more. You will watch my team play 11 at the back'. He will stay at home as he is used to seeing goals."

Wenger is nevertheless still expecting more from his defence, even though Sol Campbell is ruled out of Sunday's Community Shield against Chelsea through injury.

Wenger added: "Our target is to defend better than we did last year, but we need to do that without losing what makes us Arsenal.

"Basically, if you analyse the numbers, we finished with the best attack in the league last year and only had an average defence. Our target is to finish with the best attack and a better defence."