Arsene Wenger hopes Alexis Sanchez can "grow again" after his excellent first year at Arsenal.
Sanchez, 26, made an instant impact after moving to the Emirates Stadium from Barcelona last summer, scoring 16 goals and providing eight assists in 35 Premier League appearances while helping Arsenal retain the FA Cup.
Speaking ahead of Sunday's Community Shield with Chelsea, Wenger would not be drawn on whether Sanchez was superior to Eden Hazard, but he backed the Chile international to show he is capable of even more this season.
"I don't like all these comparisons," the Arsenal boss told the media. "Everybody always thinks their player is the best, which I can understand, but what Sanchez did for the first year in the Premier League is absolutely exceptional and hopefully he will not only repeat it but grow again."
On Hazard, whom Jose Mourinho had compared to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, he added: "He can decide the games and you put the top players in this kind of calibre when they can decide the games with something special.
"Hazard is in this category, now to reach the other two or three that are dominating world football at the moment I think it demands consistency which he is still to do."
Sanchez is set to miss Sunday's game after returning late following his successful Copa America campaign this summer, but Wenger is hopeful Arsenal can prove a point against Mourinho's men at Wembley.
"I think Chelsea have beaten us at Chelsea 2-0 last year, where we felt that we gave the game away a little bit," he said. "At home, we played 0-0, so it's a third opportunity for us to beat them.
"We have a good opportunity to show that we have improved. It's on neutral ground, where they've had success and we've had success, so it will be very interesting."
He added: "It's our next game and the first trophy at stake. We will want to win the game of course."