Emile Heskey says the ‘dirtiest’ defender he has ever seen played for Arsenal

Add as preferred source on Google

Arsenal have had a number of incredible defenders play for them over the years.

The Gunners currently have the best defence in Europe, and they have become the favourites to win the Premier League and Champions League as a result.

Everybody is in awe of the defence Mikel Arteta has assembled, but before the likes of Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba were around, there were a few iconic names.

Emile Heskey has now had his say on one of them – Martin Keown.

Emile Heskey and Sam Allardyce claim Martin Keown is the ‘dirtiest’ defender ever

Keown was and still is a fan favourite among many Arsenal fans.

The defender came through the ranks at the club’s academy but was then sold to Aston Villa in 1987. Keown revealed that he left because Arsenal didn’t pay him £50 more than what he was earning.

Then, in the summer of 1993, Arsenal re-signed the defender, and he went on to become one of the club’s greatest ever centre-backs.

The Englishman had many battles with a number of strikers, and Heskey was one of them.

On the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, the former striker was asked to name the toughest defender he ever played against.

Sam Allardyce, who was sitting in front of him, asked him about the ‘dirtiest’, and Heskey had just one answer.

“If it’s dirtiest, you’ve got to put Martin Keown in there,” he said.

Allardyce was in complete agreement. He replied: “Martin Keown, yeah. He’d be on top of the list, wouldn’t he?”

“But tough,” Heskey added.

What Martin Keown once said about being a ‘dirty’ player

Keown was often criticised for his style of play.

The Arsenal legend was hard as nails and never backed down from a challenge. He gave it his all on a football pitch, which was one of the many reasons he was loved by the fans.

Addressing all the talk about his way of playing, Keown wrote in his autobiography On The Edge: “Was I a dirty player? The stats would say yes, I guess, as I had six red cards.

“And only Richard Dunne, Duncan Ferguson, Patrick Vieira, Lee Cattermole, Roy Keane, Vinnie Jones and Alan Smith (the former Leeds striker) had more than me in the Premier League era.

“I believe that I was tough but fair, and never, ever the sort to cause anybody any injury on purpose.

“That’s not to say that I couldn’t go in hard and make myself known to the opposition, physically. There was a toughness to that era, and a lot of hard men.”