Former Arsenal right-back Bacary Sagna has accused his ex-teammates of considering themselves inferior to the Chelsea players during his time at the club, revealing that lack of confidence paved the way for the Blues to impose their authority on their London rivals.
Sagna, who spent seven seasons at the North London club between 2007 and 2014, feels that there wasn't a lot of difference between the two teams in terms of quality on the pitch but Arsenal's inferiority complex played a part in Chelsea's dominance.
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“I believe we under-evaluated ourselves. Playing for Chelsea image-wise was something different,” Sagna told the Gunners' In Lockdown Podcast, captured by the Mirror.
“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.”
Sagna established himself as one of the best right-backs in the Premier League during his time at Arsenal, clocking up a mammoth 284 appearances for the Gunners across all competitions, but his seven-year stint in North London yielded only a single trophy - the 2013-14 FA Cup.
The Frenchman certainly seems to have a point as Chelsea consistently managed to get the better of Arsenal during his tenure at the club, despite Arsene Wenger's side boasting some world-class players.
Chelsea won the Premier League, Champions League and Europa League honours between 2007 and 2014 while Arsenal only managed a single FA Cup crown.
Sagna eventually departed for Man City on a free transfer back in 2014 in search of more silverware but a runners-up medal in the 2015-16 League Cup was all that he could manage.
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