Bacary Sagna claims Arsenal under-evaluated themselves and worried about Chelsea more than the other way round during his time at the Emirates.
Former right-back Sagna spent seven years with the gunners, signing three years after the club’s final Premier League title victory.
He won just the FA Cup during his time in north London before signing for Manchester City, in search of more silverware.
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The gunners had many competitors for a top-four spot during these years, with Chelsea among the teams that enjoyed much success.
And Arsenal regularly struggled to get the better of the Blues in this era, with Bacary Sagna putting this down to the team “under-evaluating” themselves.
Sagna told the Gunners’ In Lockdown Podcast: “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.
“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.”
Sagna played alongside a couple of Chelsea stars for France, and believes his former team-mates feared playing the club more than the Blues worried about facing Arsenal.
“I believe we under-evaluated ourselves. Playing for Chelsea image-wise was something different,” Sagna added.
“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.
“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.”
