Well, that's what O'Leary did. He holds the record for consecutive seasons scoring 20+ league goals (5), Golden Boot wins (4), and the most league goals scored by a non-English player. He was your stereotypical centre-forward, and he was all about the goals. Before he could gaze across the continent at potential suitors, however, he had the small matter of the European Championship to contend with. BREAKING: Thierry Henry has been tested positive for being best Premier League striker of all time. Originally featured in the France magazine, if you like this you’ll love our work in print. Quick nod to Manuel Almunia, by the way. First and foremost, they have the capacity to remind us of the good old days by providing us with numerical frames of reference for all the wonderful players to have represented the club over the years. Overall? Before hanging up his boots, Pirès would follow a memorable four-year sojourn at Villareal with a final year in the Premier League, playing for Aston Villa, and one last parting gift to the world of football in the form of a single season playing for Goa FC during the inaugural campaign of the Indian Premier League. The Frenchman would go on to become an attacker of magnificent vintage and one of the Premier League’s all-time great imports. To be fair, it's the least you'd expect from the club's official ambassador! If anyone can find a better player than Bukayo Saka, then do let us know. Sadly for Pirès, his number was raised. And yet. He arrived at Highbury in 1973 as schoolboy, and left in 1993 having made 722 appearances of the club - a club record which is unlikely to ever be broken. At Metz he belonged, with the club forming the perfect environment for a grape that would, in Pirès, form a truly memorable vintage, encouraging him to grow and flourish naturally. Immense physicality was intertwined with a technical elegance a man of his stature should not have possessed. It is truly quite remarkable what he did for the club. But these instances were few and far between and too many at Highbury required reminding of the calibre of player Pirès, the world and European champion, supposedly represented. And again, sorry Robin, you were genuinely excellent, but the circumstances in which you departed left too sour a taste in Arsenal fans' mouths. But, for both Pirès and his club, these bitter ends would soon forge new beginnings and, spread thick across their subsequent seasons together, would inspire successes of immeasurable magnitude. The fact Pirès did all of this while adorned in a gold kit made perfect sense. He recorded a similarly impressive strike rate in the campaign that followed. But, any player to have left the club in such a disrespectful fashion as Cole doesn't warrant inclusion. "He came from Senegal, to play for Arsenal! Arsenal news, transfers, stats, reports and more. It's going to be 1-11 with one slight exception. Physically, mentally and emotionally, he was scrutinised in ways he had been given only a glimpse of at Marseille. Read | Freddie Ljungberg: the Arsenal diaries. Honorary Mentions: David Rocastle, Liam Brady. After that, Arsenal's number eight went on to be the club's top scorer in six successive seasons, and became the club's all-time record goalscorer in 1997. “One day I came home and told my mother I’d had enough. Pirès and his teammates finished but a point behind champions Bordeaux in the league and made their way to the final of the 1999 UEFA Cup, only to be defeated by a revered Parma squad that overflowed with talent. And, of course, in the 2003/04 season, Pirès became invincible. Now, you'd perhaps expect the number nine position an easy one to pick. A squad so in sync, so adept in their artistry, they conquered the Premier League without loss. Now. Despite playing two months fewer than most of his fellow nominees, he scooped the FWA Footballer of the Year award. One language Pirès had no trouble mastering, however, was the one he’d speak with his feet – intimate conversations conducted between boots and balls – and so it was on the pitch he first learned to express himself. #7 Robert Pires Arsenal legend Robert Pires was one of the most crucial members of the Arsenal side which went unbeaten throughout the entire system in 2003/04. Honorary Mentions: Robin van Persie, Sylvain Wiltord. Hats off, ladies and gentlemen, to Mr Tony Adams. Speaking of which, and do correct me if I'm wrong, but Arsenal currently have the world's greatest No.77 on their books. Manchester United has a whole list of players who donned the number 7 jersey and went on to achieve great things, while their bitter rivals Liverpool have also had some legendary number 7s.In football, if we consider the traditional 4-4-2 formation, the number 7 jersey is usually donned by the winger or the supporting forward thus making him one of the most important players on the pitch.Choosing the best 7 out of a long list of iconic number 7’s is no easy task, but we have picked the seven best players and there are some truly amazing footballers on this listNote: Out and out forwards like Raul and Suarez are not considered as they best epitomise the number 9 position, even though they wore the number 7 jersey. The Frenchman would leave in June. His father, Antônio, who hailed from Braga in northern Portugal, had played throughout the entirety of his own teenage years and could well have become a professional footballer given adequate opportunity to, according to his doting son. ‘There are times in life when you have to hang on’.” And so Pirès did just that, he hung on, and in spite of his worst fears he was soon rewarded for his persistence. He won four league championships, three FA Cups, and established himself as part of an impenetrable back-line that brought the Gunners success after success during the 1990s. And, he set the Premier League alight during his 11 seasons in north London; he helped inspire a new Arsenal under Arsène Wenger to three Premier League titles and four FA Cup trophies. But desire alone is worth excruciatingly little to the prospective professional and Pirès wouldn’t be handed his route to the top without earning it. It's going to be 1-11 with one slight exception. And, with No.3 on his back, he made the left-back position his own for pretty much the whole of that period. With every full-blooded tackle, every robust challenge, he could feel his stomach knotting tighter. Such was his charm, enamouring not only the adoring fans that lined the stands but the professionals alongside whom he plied his trade, when a still-injured Pirès gingerly scaled the podium to lift his first Premier League trophy, his teammates dropped to their knees and bowed before him, in honour of his services to their achievement. He joined from Ajax, taking a similar path to fellow Dutchman Bergkamp. The experiment need not be followed to its natural conclusion. Whether beginning attacks from deep or finishing them with his right instep, snatching goal after exquisitely dispatched goal or laying them on a plate for his frontmen, Pirès was unstoppable. Into and beyond the impending autumn, while the leaves about him fell, Pirès would take flight. But you'll have to read on to read about that! Pires enjoyed a stellar career, helping his country win the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 and also winning two Premier League titles and two FA Cups during six years at Arsenal. It was Arsenal's League and Cup double, but Overmars' impact cannot be underestimated. Read | Why Arsenal’s 2001/02 vintage are perhaps the greatest in the club’s history. 20 years might be pretty impressive, but Tony Adams took it a step further. Were it not for a heartbreaking equaliser from Yoann Lachor, scoring for title rivals Lens away to Auxerre on the final game of the 1997/98 season, the team would have been crowned champions for the very first time in their club’s modest history. Pretty impressive for a guy who, before Arsenal, had played for the likes of Burnley and Stoke. That continued throughout the decade - at the end of the 1998/99 campaign, he had conceded just 17 goals in 38 matches. Former Arsenal and France midfielder Robert Pires is the latest Premier League legend to reveal all to the MOTD Top 10 podcast. Never leave Bobby! If he hadn't already done enough, he then opened the scoring in the FA Cup final against Newcastle too. His first campaign in north London, the 2000/01 season, ended in anguish as Arsenal failed to match Manchester United’s pace at the summit of the Premiership and allowed the FA Cup to slip through their grasp, surrendering a late lead in the tournament’s final to a Michael Owen brace. Now, however, he wasn’t quite so keen. Pirès described the transfer as “going from terroir to bling-bling.”. Back to Seaman though. As the months ebbed by, Pirès struggled to find vindication in his search for stardom across the Channel. At Marseille, amidst the bling-bling, the affluence and the inevitable expectation that heightened further with every cashed cheque, far from flourishing, he had to fight not to wilt. And while his comrades evidenced their unique appreciation for the winger with their grand gestures of obeisance, the Arsenal fans sang theirs. And, at Arsenal, shirt numbers do many things. On that day, he would depart both the competition and the club he adored long before he’d hoped. By the time he left for West Ham, he had netted 185 times in just 288 appearances - a record bettered by only one man. Sorry David O'Leary. Vieira, woah, Vieira, woah!". As well as scoring the first goal in the final day title-clincher at Liverpool in 1989, he was the league's top scorer that season. 2004: Arsenal FC: 2002: Arsenal FC: All titles When Jens Lehmann’s early red card left his team without a goalkeeper, one player would naturally be forced to leave the field to be replaced by their reserve custodian Manuel Almunia. This is not for you.” Like his Arsenal career, the game unfurling before Robert Pirès was scarcely a half-hour old and already the French midfielder’s inner monologue was wielding the convenience of retrospection like a blunt weapon, jabbing at his jugular and demanding answers about his recent move to England. With the freedom of the left-wing, he struck up a sublime unspoken understanding with Ashley Cole behind him and Thierry Henry ahead. Winterburn made 584 appearances throughout the course of his 13 year career at Arsenal. At the time it was very rare to have right-footed people playing on the left.” The rest is history. It finds its origins in terra, the Latin for earth, but has come to mean far more. Standards had long since slipped, the topography of the Premier League long since changed, and Arsenal’s fight was one for fourth as opposed to first. Adams was the captain of Arsenal sides across three consecutive decades who won four league titles. He played for Arsenal for a remarkable 13 years, and his arrival in 1990 contributed towards arguably the most successful era of the Gunners' history. He played a pivotal role in Arsenal's success at the turn of the millennium - he was named the club's, and the league's Player of the Season as Arsenal won the league title in 2002.
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