Discover our selection of the 11 best French players to have worn the colors of the Gunners, opponents of PSG on Tuesday during the second day of the Champions League.
Arsenal and France, a long and beautiful story… Created by Arsène Wenger, French culture has never let go of the Gunners since his time (1996-2018), with many Tricolores who have written the most beautiful pages in history from the London club. Starting with Thierry Henry of course, the man whose statue sits on the forecourt of the Emirates Stadium. 228 goals in 377 games, that’s a big deal. Note that French clubs have generally been successful at Arsenal too, with 15 wins, nine draws and only four defeats in 28 matches. Three draws and a victory against PSG, Londoners’ opponent this Tuesday (9 p.m.), during the second day of the Champions League. Still, this profusion of French players largely allows us to compose an 11 of the best Arsenal Blues.
Goalkeeper: Guillaume Warmuz
Not much competition for the former RC Lens goalkeeper, the only French goalkeeper to have worn the colors of Arsenal. In fact, Guillaume Warmuz has never kept the Gunners’ goals in a match. He spent six months in London.
Defenders: Bacary Sagna, Laurent Koscielny, William Gallas, Gaël Clichy
On the right, no debate with Bacary Sagna, who spent seven years at Arsenal. Mathieu Debuchy is far behind. On the left, no competition for Gaël Clichy either. More than 500 matches between them with this club! In the axis, there are more candidates. Mikaël Silvestre, Sébastien Squillaci and Pascal Cygan are far behind our central hinge, made up of two former Arsenal captains, Laurent Koscielny and William Gallas, respectively 353 and 142 matches with the London team. In a few years, William Saliba will perhaps supplant one of the two, or even both. The former Marseillais is already an executive for Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, a basic man. Without him, Arsenal lost to Manchester City in the title race at the end of the 2022-23 season. The future belongs to him.
Also readArsenal-PSG: Style, results, experience… Mikel Arteta and Luis Enrique, the match within the match
Midfield: Robert Pirès, Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit
Great people in the midfield. Mattéo Guendouzi, Francis Coquelin, Mathieu Flamini do not appear in our 11. Neither does Abou Diaby, who saw his career spoiled by injuries. 125 matches and 27 goals for Samir Nasri, who would have deserved his place. But our trio is quite indisputable, with three world champions, three London legends, Patrick Vieira (most capped French player in the club’s history, 405 matches), Emmanuel Petit and Robert Pirès. The latter tended to play on the side, but he could very well have played in a trio like this. Especially since there are people in front… As a great devotee, Gilles Grimandi (169 matches from 1997 to 2003) deserves at least to be mentioned in the reflection.
Figaro
Attackers: Sylvain Wiltord, Olivier Giroud, Thierry Henry
Author of 71 goals in 206 matches, Lyon captain Alexandre Lacazette would have deserved his place in our 11 of the best Frenchmen at Arsenal. The meteorite Nicolas Anelka (90 matches, 28 goals), snatched from PSG without compensation in 1997, could also have been there. However, we favored Olivier Giroud (253 matches, 105 goals) and Sylvain Wiltord (174 matches, 49 goals) to accompany Mr. Henry, the man of all records and all titles, except the C1. Henry is obviously the top scorer in the club’s history. Giroud appears in 18th place in the ranking.
Our 11 of the best French players at Arsenal : Guillaume Warmuz – Bacary Sagna, Laurent Koscielny, William Gallas, Gaël Clichy – Robert Pirès, Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit – Sylvain Wiltord, Olivier Giroud, Thierry Henry.
