Ian Wright has admitted it’s ‘horrible’ when rival fans sing about Arsenal’s history in the Champions League, with the Gunners having never won it.
Arsenal are considered by many to be the biggest club in London – with 13 Premier League titles, a record 14 FA Cups and two Carabao Cup trophies.
The north London side have also clinched 17 Community Shields and are the third-most successful club in English football behind Liverpool and Manchester United.
But Arsenal do not have much pedigree on the continental stage, with just one European Cup Winners’ Cup and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
Arsenal’s men have never won the Champions League, previously known as the European Cup, since it was founded in 1955.
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The Champions League is one of the most prestigious football tournaments in the world and a number of other English clubs have won it – including Liverpool (six times), United (three times), Chelsea (twice), Nottingham Forest (twice), Manchester City (once) and Aston Villa (once).
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Wright said: ‘It’s f****** horrible when people say, “[Champions of Europe], you’ll never sing that”.’
Arsenal’s best performance in the Champions League was in 2006 when they finished as runners-up to Barcelona following a run to the final.
Last season, Arsenal beat 15-time winners Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals before losing to Paris Saint-Germain in the last four.
Opta’s Supercomputer currently tips Arsenal as the favourites to win the Champions League this term with a 18.64 per cent chance.
Arsenal legend Wright, though, is adamant that Mikel Arteta would rather win the Premier League than the Champions League this season if he had to pick one trophy.
‘I think he’d take the Premier League,’ Wright added. ‘I think Mikel, talking about his personality, he’d want the Premier League… Then he can have that large exhale can go for the Champions League.’
Wright feels Arsenal have a ‘great chance’ of winning their first Premier League title since 2004 this term, following runner-up finishes for the last three seasons in a row.
‘What last week has done is reaffirm to people that, listen, we’ve got a great chance of winning the league,’ Wright continued.
‘I think we’ve got the best squad in the league at the moment, I don’t care what anyone says. It’s now up to the manager to make sure he puts the right pieces in the picture at the right time.
‘We’ve seen a couple of results where I think he could have started different people to get the game done, but then he does his thing with bringing people on – he finished it well against Newcastle. He was more positive, exactly what we needed to be.
‘Because last year, when Liverpool slipped up, we weren’t able to benefit. We didn’t take advantage. But when we did that against Newcastle, it made people realise, okay, this is a step forward in what we’re trying to do and shows we’re definitely in this fight as long as we can be.
‘Now, talking about Arsenal, everyone’s saying, “Oh, it’s Arsenal now”, because we’ve seen City and Liverpool falter.
‘Arsenal are now in the driving seat, and this is where we see the mentality of our players. They’ve finished second three times – they know what to do. They’ve been chasing City and Liverpool for the last few seasons. It’s their time now, so it’s up to them mentally to go and do it.’