Liverpool will win the Premier League this season unbeaten but they had it easier than Arsenal claims Robert Pires
Pires was part of the Arsenal side that played 49 games without tasting defeat as well as played an entire league season unbeaten.
He has admitted that this Liverpool side is good enough to break their record and he has backed them to win the title.
Pires however, claims that the Reds have it easy and insists that the Premier League was more competitive when he and his teammates achieved their feat than it is currently.
He claims that only Manchester City has the required quality to rival Liverpool at the moment but they had other teams fighting them when they achieved their record.
Pires told France Football, per Goal.com: “Yes, because they have everything going for them: the team, the results, the luck, the coach… I think there are a lot of people who will agree.
“Considering how they have been playing for some time, I can’t see who would trouble them. Even Manchester City… when I look at the match against City [a 3-1 win for Liverpool at Anfield in November], there is too big a difference.
“It’s how they all defend. They play in a 4-3-3 and as soon as they lose the ball, especially in the middle, they are strong, physical.
“I thought they would have a little drop in speed because they don’t stop playing and they keep travelling. After Boxing Day, I thought they would fall apart anyway, and no the guys are still there physically.
“Today, technically the Premier League has dipped a little. It’s a bit of an observation people make here. When you see the squads of Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham or Arsenal, it’s not as strong as it was a few years ago. The only ones who can trouble them are Manchester City.
“They will be champions by going unbeaten, but they can also beat our record. Everything has changed today. People will compare, but I think it was much, much harder in our time.
“As I said before, technically, many teams, particularly the big ones, have gone down a notch. There were no cameras, no VAR. When the guys wanted to get stuck in…
“And, above all, when you played away. I remember the matches at Leeds [United], Blackburn [Rovers], Bolton [Wanderers]… you had to get used to them.”
Pires makes some good points but I doubt that his view about the strength of the league was more in his day than it is today will be greeted with a wholesale agreement.
It is very subjective, different era and so forth. Comparisons will be made of course and Arsenal and Liverpool fans are hardly going to be neutral on this.
I, of course, believe the Arsenal invincible team is better than this current Liverpool side and I do agree with Pires that it was harder back then but of course I will be accused of bias on this subject.
I am also not too sure that other fans will be neutral either. Who do we think Tottenham fans will say was the better team? same with Man Utd fans.
The bottom line is this, no matter what happens, Arsenal will always be the original invincibles.