It could be argued that for a number of 20 something Arsenal fans, it is slowly becoming harder and harder to accept the Gunners’ fall from grace in recent seasons.
The North London giants appear to be somewhat back on track having won the FA Cup last season and returning to the final of the same competition this but compared to the stars and of course ‘Invincibles’ of yesteryear, Arsenal fans were truly spoilt in the early naughties.
Remarkable to think then really that Arsene Wenger is still the man in charge after all that time with the long serving Frenchman residing as one of the most stubborn personalities in the game, seemingly unable to walk away from the job until another Premier League title is restored to his CV.
But with our resident Gooners in the Football Transfer Tavern willing to save the #WengerIn vs #WengerOut debate for another day, the subject has turned to who can be considered an underrated Arsenal star under Wenger’s tenure.
They have put their heads together and come up with an underrated Arsenal XI. Do you agree with their choices?
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Click on Gooner super fan Bully below to reveal our most underrated Arsenal XI of recent years.
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Jens Lehmann
Replacing old ‘safe hands’ in David Seaman was never going to be an easy task for Arsene Wenger and to this day, Arsenal fans continue to crave a stopper of his abilities.
With the jury very much out on the abilities of both David Ospina and Wojciech Szczesny, our resident Gooners are crying out for a move for Chelsea’s Petr Cech who is free to talk to other clubs, as reported by the press in recent days.
One goalkeeping decision in which Wenger did get right however was the signature of mad Jens Lehmann back in 2003.
Boasting an arrogance in goal that meant he played every minute in Arsenal’s famous unbeaten season of 2003/04, does he really receive as much credit as the likes of his team-mates from that vintage campaign?
Lauren
Another unsung hero of Arsenal’s early naughties’ dominance, Cameroonian defender Lauren was a tough and uncompromising character, and a personality that in all truth has been lacking around the Emirates Stadium in recent seasons.
After racking up 159 Premier League appearances for the Gunners between 2000 and 2006, Lauren’s career strangely went off the boil when joining Portsmouth thereafter.
Nevertheless, his contributions at Arsenal shouldn’t be underestimated and our resident Gooners love the fact that he was caught up in that melee with Ruud van Nistelrooy at Old Trafford all those years ago – never one to shy away from a battle.
Kolo Toure
Unfortunately for him, Kolo Toure has become something of a cult figure for all the wrong reasons in recent Premier League history.
Seemingly becoming more error prone each and every passing season having joined Manchester City and Liverpool since his Arsenal days, it wasn’t always this way for the Ivorian centre back.
Toure was once a model of consistency for the Gunners. After all, he appeared a whopping 225 times in the Premier League under Wenger after being plucked from footballing obscurity at ASEC Mimosas in his home nation in 2002.
Perhaps if Toure hadn’t jumped ship so soon in Manchester City’s Etihad revolution, he may have gone on to enjoy his later years more successfully on a personal level. Then again, he could claim he won a Premier League title with the Citizens in 2011/12!
Gilberto Silva
We know what you’re thinking; Gilberto Silva wasn’t a centre back at Arsenal!
True but he was deployed there later on in his career at Panathinaikos and he is included in this position in our XI simply because the likes of Igors Stepanovs, Oleg Luzhny and Pascal Cygan weren’t underrated, they were just terrible!
Gilberto is one of those characters whose success at Arsenal wasn’t nearly celebrated as much during his playing days as it was following his departure.
At present, Francis Coquelin is doing a sterling job in defensive midfield for the Gunners but Arsenal fans are craving the addition of another defensive midfield destroyer such as Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin.
Rewind back to 2002 and Arsenal had found themselves an energetic, powerful midfielder in Gilberto who famously scored the Champions League’s fastest ever goal back in 2002/03 against PSV Eindhoven, registering the strike in just 20 seconds!
Giovanni van Bronckhorst
Yes, this famous name of the game did enjoy a rather brief spell at Highbury between 2001 and 2004, making 42 Premier League appearances in that time.
However, in just three years, the Dutch full back played in Arsenal teams that won the Premier League in 2001/02, the FA Cup in both 2001/02 and the following season of 2002/03. This wasn’t to mention the FA Community Shield of the same season.
It is easy to forget that Gio enjoyed such success at Arsenal and given the career he then went on to enjoy at Barcelona, perhaps he could have stuck around longer. Then again, his time at Arsenal was blighted by injuries.
Sebastian Larsson
Now something of a Premier League veteran having accumulated over 280 appearances in the top flight for both Birmingham City and Sunderland, Sebastian Larsson never made the grade with Arsenal.
Appearing just three times in the league for the Gunners, the shame for Larsson is that he was trying to dislodge the likes of Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg and a young Cesc Fabregas from the Arsenal team in his breakthrough season of 2004/05 – no mean feat at all.
That said, Larsson didn’t look back since making an initial loan switch to Birmingham back in 2007 and in credit to his career, the Swedish international has since played at two European championships and is rightly recognised as one of the most deadly free-kick takers in the Premier League.
Perhaps he would have received more first team opportunities had he broke through in later seasons; who knows?
Edu
Performing a nice round figure of 100 times for Arsenal in the Premier League, Edu was a domineering physical presence in the Arsenal midfield – something that has been lacking in recent seasons.
Quite often overlooked simply for the fact that Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg were stealing all the headlines going forward, Edu’s finest season was of course in 2003/04 where he thrived as part of the Invincibles.
Scoring twice that season – both times against Chelsea – how many times in recent years could you say that the Gunners physically outfought a Blues outfit. How times change aye?
Ray Parlour
Affectionately referred to by Gooners as the Romford Pele, Ray Parlour very rarely let the Arsenal cause down in an extensive spell with the Gunners between 1992 and 2004.
Perhaps looking back on his Arsenal career and regretting the fact he didn’t score more than 22 goals in 339 appearances, what Parlour can claim is that he scored a goal against Chelsea in the 2002 FA Cup Final – his finest moment in the famous red jersey.
Nevertheless, Parlour was one of Arsene Wenger’s most trusted pros and the fact he made just 10 appearances for England shows that well, he was underrated.
Tomas Rosicky
The only current member of the Arsenal squad to make up our eleven, Tomas Rosicky is the ultimate utility man isn’t he?
Returning to the Arsenal fold as an unused substitute in the Gunners’ shock 1-0 home loss to Swansea City on Monday night, Rosicky is a fan favourite at the Emirates Stadium but often gets overlooked for long periods by Arsene Wenger.
Yes, the Gunners can call upon the likes of Santi Cazorla, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mesut Ozil and Jack Wilshere in central of wide attacking positions but do any of them boast as much experience and driving runs as the man nicknamed ‘Little Mozart’?
In truth, the aforementioned names are probably better first team starters than the long serving Czech but after somewhat overcoming injury troubles that blighted his early Arsenal career, Wenger should be awarding Rosicky more regular first team opportunities.
Sylvain Wiltord
Who can forget Martin Tyler’s cries of ‘Wiltordddddd’ at Old Trafford back in 2001/02?
The Frenchman’s goal on that night in Manchester clinched the Premier League title that season in Arsene Wenger’s second league triumph but you rarely hear Gunners fans wax lyricial about Wiltord more recently.
The fact of the matter is that Wiltord performed in a team that contained the likes of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg and thus, he was just another top performer some way down the chain in Arsenal fans’ minds.
He would’ve most definitely been a star man in a more modest team’s ranks, that’s for sure.
Kanu
Similarly to Wiltord, Kanu performed in Arsenal team’s that had attacking flair in abundance but make no mistake, the Nigerian hero could play as well.
One of the most likeable characters in the game, Kanu’s most memorable moment in an Arsenal shirt was his scintillating 15-minute hat-trick against Chelsea back in 1999/2000 where to this day, we don’t know how he managed to pull off some of those strikes, such was the intricacy of his play in a classic 3-2 comeback.
Swapping the top of the table for more modest levels having joined West Bromwich Albion and Portsmouth after departing Arsenal in 2004, that wasn’t the end of the Nigerian winning trophies with the striker bagging the FA Cup with Pompey in 2007/08.
