Wenger takes swipe at Chelsea

Arsene Wenger has accused Chelsea of destroying competition in the transfer market with their huge budget for new players.

The Arsenal manager believes Roman Abramovich's spending power means Chelsea inevitably have first pick of Europe top stars.

The £20 million signing of Ricardo Carvalho took Chelsea's spending to more than £89m this summer and nearly £220m since the Russian billionaire's takeover.

Wenger said: "Who can compete with Chelsea?

"They go out first and buy what they want, then everyone else comes in, so it's very difficult to compete. In some ways they have destroyed the market - they can say yes to what they want to say yes to. It has somewhat destabilised the market."

Arsenal play River Plate in the Amsterdam Tournament tonight when they will be without Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Sol Campbell.

All three players are injured and Wenger fears they may not be fit for the start of the Premiership season on 15 August.

He said: "I am concerned because these players came back from Euro 2004 much later than the others. Their preparation is very short.