Wenger wary of Everton

Arsenal face Everton in Saturday's Barclays Asia Trophy final in Singapore and the Gunners coach Arsene Wenger is wary of their opponents.

In the opening matches on Wednesday Arsenal beat a Singapore XI 4-0 while Everton beat Stoke City 5-4 on penalties to reach the final.

In a chat to media in Singapore, Wenger said that Everton were well prepared and focussed in their opening match.

"The first-half was very, very competitive between Stoke and Everton. The challenges were Premier League challenges and I expect that from Everton.

"They came out of a season where they did less well than the season before and they certainly want to start strong,” said Wenger.

"They look focused and prepared."

The Arsenal coach has been blown away by how popular football has become in Asia and all over the world.

"I'm quite surprised by the development of football and how important it has become all over the world.

"I started to play where you had to hide to celebrate that you were a football player and today it's become more popular all over the world."

Wenger added that he feels that they do have a realistic chance of challenging for the Premier League title.

"It's our target and we feel we have a chance in a very competitive league. We finished third last season and we won the FA Cup so that shows that we are not far away.

"We have a good, cohesive group and I believe they are a group who have the ambition to do better. That's our target but it is very difficult to know how good we are until the season.

"What is important is that we focus as well as we can, then we have the chance," he added.