Bacary Sagna has admitted Arsenal struggled to face off against Chelsea and other elite teams in the Premier League during his time at the Emirates Stadium.
Having joined the Gunners in 2007, Sagna went on to make 284 appearances over the next seven years mainly as a right-back.
However despite being a regular top four side qualifying for the Champions League during this period, Arsenal were seldom in a Premier League title race and lifted just one FA Cup in that time which came in Sagna's final season.
The former France international believes despite the talents available at the Emirates Arsene Wenger's side saw Chelsea as a superior team, with his final game against them for the club even resulting in a 6-0 hammering at Stamford Bridge.
'I believe we under-evaluated ourselves. Playing for Chelsea image-wise was something different,' Sagna the Gunners' In Lockdown Podcast.
'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, who departed Arsenal for Manchester City in search for more silverware, claimed that part of the failings from the Gunners during this period when competing against big teams was dealing with the pressure.
'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.'
Handsome Mike
463
Imagine playing for 7 years in a top club without winning anything than a single FA cup. Imagine a rival manager calling your best manager "a specialist in failure" and then trashed him 6-0 immediately after. That has got to crush the confidence of the entire club and trust me, fast-tracked Wenger's exit.
Ngor7
438
Hazard7 and Diego Costa Arsenal fear most
ChristianOfori
422
Drogba anytime he meets Arsenal 😂
Yembcsz
412
pride of london💙 anytime anyday🛸
hazardeden1017
142
it's not arsenal every defender feared eden hazard
Yorokiri
130
it's a no brainer... we all knew from Mourinho's arrival, to king Drogba bitchin them defenders on a regular basis