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ARSENE WENGER has called on his Arsenal side to prove they have matured into genuine title contenders by beating Chelsea tomorrow. In one of his most defiant addresses since arriving at the club 13 years ago, the Frenchman made it clear that his players can no longer hide being the tag of young pretenders and must instead show that their “moment has come”.

“This is one of our biggest tests but that is what we want,” Wenger said. “There is a period for any team to come out and show its strengths. For us, this moment has come. We are not any more a team that has to be considered to be young, we have the strengths and we want to show on Sunday that we have grown up.”