Invincible winner Jeremie Aliadiere made a surprise call when naming the trophy he wants Arsenal to win most.
Aliadiere made 10 appearances during the history-making 2003/04 season as Arsenal became the first side in 115 years to navigate a top-flight season undefeated.
The Gunners have gone close to pipping serial winners Manchester City to the title in the past two seasons as well as making their Champions League return after a seven-year hiatus and Aliadiere has a clear preference on which trophy he wants Mikel Arteta’s side to win.
“I think the Premier League, that’s the one I want them to win because that’s the hardest competition to win,” he said, speaking at the Copa del Cure Leukaemia tournament at St George’s Park.
“It’s over 38 games and there is no luck, the best team wins. We’ve seen how close we got and it was very frustrating, so for me to win the Premier League would be the biggest achievement.
“You’re not going to say no to the Champions League and it would be great as we’ve never won it, but the Premier League has always been the special thing to win.”
Arteta’s side broke several club records en route to finishing second behind Manchester City last season and are widely considered the best Arsenal side since the Invincibles.
Aliadiere shared the changing room with some of the club’s all-time greats and says he can see a resemblance between the current side and Arsene Wenger’s fabled warriors.
“What I’ve noticed and what I really relate to our in team from 2003/04 is the determination, the aggression on the pitch, we had soldiers going on the pitch, it didn’t matter the style of football, what mattered was to win games and I see that now – the desire even in the tunnel, they are ready to go to war,” said Aliadiere.
“I see that resemblance of how we were, so in terms of quality and talent and how we play, it’s amazing but that’s not enough to win. What wins you trophies is determination and aggression and I think we’ve got it this year. That comes from Arteta who has changed everything in terms of mentality.”
Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season against Bournemouth on Saturday, paying the price for William Saliba’s early dismissal on the south coast.
But Aliadiere remains positive and feels that Arsenal have been dealt a bad hand by officials.
“We’ve been a bit unlucky, at City we deserved better and the sending off changed the game against Brighton,” he added.
“Things haven’t always gone out but we can’t be too lucky. It’s been a great start and the boys are so hungry to achieve something and I’m really thinking it might be this year that we end up winning the Premier League.”
Cure Leukaemia is a UK-based blood cancer charity founded in 2003, working to accelerate the process of bringing life-saving treatments to leukaemia patients by funding specialist Research Nurses across the country
Image credit: Reuters via Beat Media Group subscription
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