I used to bully Arsenal and made famous dig at Wenger’s team – they always fell apart but this group have cojones

I PLAYED against several Arsenal players who would  easily have been good enough to get into Mikel Arteta’s  current Gunners side.

At their peak, Jack Wilshere, Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were all world-class players.

REUTERS/Eddie KeoghAlexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil summed up the individual brilliance of Arsenal several years ago, but the current team is more resilient[/caption]

GettyThe Gunners have superb collective strength, laced with special talents like Declan Rice and playmaker Martin Odegaard[/caption]

But those were Arsenal teams you always fancied your chances against.

Arsenal teams you could bully. Arsenal teams who could fall apart.

It’s well remembered that I once accused Arsene Wenger’s team of lacking ‘cojones’ after my Watford side beat them at Vicarage Road.

I certainly cannot imagine taking the p*** out of this Gunners team in the same way. I wouldn’t rate my chances of bullying them, either.

Arteta was a serious competitor as a player and his team are the embodiment of how he used to play, not that some of his old team-mates shared the same level of desire.

It’s great testament to Arteta that he has created an Arsenal team far superior in spirit and solidarity to the sides he played in, who were technically better in many areas.

This is a team who have won seven straight league games, scoring 31 times and conceding just three. They have scored more goals than any other Prem team  this season.

That’s not bad for a club which everyone — including me — was  saying needed to sign an out-and-out centre-forward during the January transfer window.

Ivan Toney, who lines up against them at the Emirates this  evening, was one man touted as the missing link for Arsenal to go on and win the title this season.

I still think Arsenal could do with a proper No 9 and  will go out and get one in the summer.

However well they’ve played recently — and the way they dismantled Sheffield United to go 5-0 up at half-time on Monday night was awesome — I still reckon they will finish a close third behind Manchester City and Liverpool.

At centre-forward and at full-back, Arsenal are still not at elite level, although the return to fitness of left-back Jurrien Timber will help.

This is, though, an Arsenal side which can win matches in all sorts of ways.

Against the Blades — admittedly one of the worst Premier League teams of all time — they simply played the opposition off the park.

But Arsenal also have an outstanding record from set-pieces. They are a big, strong side with a psychology to match their physicality.

And midfielder Declan Rice has proved himself as his club’s best signing for at least a decade — even at £105million he is a bargain.
I’m a huge fan of Rice as a player and as a bloke.

When I played against him, he had this child-like innocence, where he’d be giving the impression of, ‘Wow, playing Premier League football is actually my job. How good is that?’.

He still looks as if he is thoroughly enjoying himself in every match but that sense of joy is matched by an uncommon drive for self-improvement.

Dec is not content with being a very good player, he wants to be a genuine great — and since moving to Arsenal, he is arriving at that level.

GettyMikel Arteta is a serious competitor as a boss, just like as a player[/caption]

There aren’t many big-money  signings who have hit the ground running in the Prem in the way Dec has done — but somehow you always expected that he would.

He’s only recently turned 25 but he is a leader  and he has the absolute trust of Arteta and his team-mates.

Taking set-pieces is a great responsibility and, however good your  tactics are at free-kicks and corners, you’re only as good as the man delivering them — and Dec is top-drawer.

For a man who is primarily a  defensive-minded midfielder to have  contributed five goals and six assists this season is a seriously good return.

There are so many Arsenal players chipping in with goals — there were five different scorers at Bramall Lane the other night, just as there were when they won at West Ham by the same scoreline last month.

Nine different Gunners players have scored four-plus goals in the league.

But maybe it’s the old forward in me which keeps thinking they need an authentic No 9 if they are to  continue challenging.

You can win a title without one,  as City have done. But Arsenal are now up against Erling Haaland, who has scored 80 goals for City in  18 months at the club, and Liverpool, for whom Mo Salah has netted at least 30 times in four different campaigns.

That is what Arteta is still lacking — however crazy that sounds after such a prolific run of scoring.

And Toney is such a confident bloke, I wouldn’t be surprised if he showed Arsenal what they are  missing tonight.