Bacary Sagna admits Arsenal feared playing Chelsea: ‘In our heads, they were bigger players’

‘Maybe in our heads, they were bigger players than us’: Bacary Sagna admits Arsenal FEARED playing Chelsea as he reveals why Arsene Wenger’s side flopped in the big games

  • Bacary Sagna played 284 times for Arsenal between 2007 and 2014
  • Gunners were a regular top four side at this point but seldom were in a title race
  • The right-back admits Arsenal struggled to perform in the big matches
  • Sagna believes they put too much pressure on themselves to perform well

Bacary Sagna has admitted Arsenal struggled to face off against Chelsea and other elite teams in the Premier League during his time at the Emirates Stadium.

Having joined the Gunners in 2007, Sagna went on to make 284 appearances over the next seven years mainly as a right-back.

However despite being a regular top four side qualifying for the Champions League during this period, Arsenal were seldom in a Premier League title race and lifted just one FA Cup in that time, which came in Sagna’s final season.

Bacary Sagna (right) faces off against Chelsea’s Eden Hazard in March 2014, a Premier League match the Gunners would go on to lose 6-0

The former France international believes despite the talents available at the Emirates, Arsene Wenger’s side saw Chelsea as a superior team, with his final game against them for the club even resulting in a 6-0 hammering at Stamford Bridge.

‘I believe we under-evaluated ourselves. Playing for Chelsea image-wise was something different,’ Sagna told the Gunners’ In Lockdown Podcast.

‘They used their image a lot, they used to have some big players in the national team and we used to talk about them more than they talked about us.

Sagna claims that Arsenal struggled to perform in big games during his time at the club due to putting too much pressure on themselves

Sagna claims that Arsenal struggled to perform in big games during his time at the club due to putting too much pressure on themselves

‘Maybe in our heads, they were bigger players than us. On the pitch, we had as much quality as they had whenever we played, and when we played the Arsenal way nobody could beat us.

‘I believed nobody could beat us. We used to play simple passes, one, two-touches maximum. But I believe we under-evaluated ourselves which is a big mistake in life.’

Sagna, who departed Arsenal for Manchester City in search of more silverware, claimed that the Gunners’ failings when competing against big teams was partly how they dealt with the pressure.

Sagna looks on in the Emirates Stadium tunnel behind Wojciech Szczesny as they line up against Chelsea before a game in 2012

Sagna looks on in the Emirates Stadium tunnel behind Wojciech Szczesny as they line up against Chelsea before a game in 2012

‘We just played game by game and we were winning a lot but obviously and eventually when we had to perform in certain games, we were failing,’ he said.

‘Maybe it was because we put too much pressure on ourselves.

‘Most of the games we had to play, we played well and we won. But for example when we had to play against the top four, we found it difficult to play against them at that time.’  



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