Jamie O’Hara has made yet another ridiculous claim about Arsenal.
The Tottenham-supporting pundit has made a name for himself for his rants about his old club Spurs, but from time to time, he aims digs at Arsenal as well.
Ahead of the North London Derby in September, O’Hara branded Emmanuel Petit’s Arsenal and Tottenham combined XI as ‘garbage’ because the Gunners legend named just two Spurs players in his line-up.
O’Hara also claimed that he doesn’t respect Ben White because of the Arsenal defender’s choice to not play for England.
Now, the talkSPORT pundit has come up with what is probably his most ridiculous take of all time.
Jamie O’Hara says Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven is ‘better’ than Arsenal’s William Saliba
Tottenham fans just never learn, do they?
Spurs supporters always go big with their claims about Arsenal and their players, and those opinions almost always backfire.
O’Hara predicted that Arsenal would get ‘whooped’ in the North London Derby in September because Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice were both out of the game.
That, unsurprisingly, backfired, and the pundit has now made another claim that we are sure will backfire in the coming weeks and months.
O’Hara has boldly claimed that Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven is actually a better defender than William Saliba of Arsenal. He has even claimed that there’s nobody better than Spurs’ Dutch defender.
He said on talkSPORT: “He (Van de Ven) is unbelievable. I would go as far as to say the best centre-half in the world right now.”
When Jason Cundy brought up Saliba’s name, O’Hara replied: “He is better than Saliba. Come on, mate. He has got way more than Saliba. Come on, don’t compare him to Saliba.”
Cundy then argued that Saliba has proven himself much more than Van de Ven. O’Hara said: “Do me a favour. What do you mean he has proven it? Tell me what Saliba has proved that Van de Ven hasn’t proved.
“They conceded four goals in two games. Saliba is brilliant, he is fantastic, don’t get me wrong. Great centre-half. But, don’t tell me Saliba has proved it. He has won nothing. Van de Ven is better than Saliba right now.
“Don’t compare him to Saliba, compare him to Van Dijk or Rudiger at Real Madrid or a top centre-half in the world. Saliba is a really good player, a top player, but let’s calm down a little bit, Arsenal have won nothing yet.
“Van de Ven is the best centre-half in the world right now. Right now on form, he walks into any team. He gets into Liverpool’s team, he gets into Real Madrid’s team, he gets into Manchester City’s team, he walks into any team in the world. Does Saliba play over Rudiger?”
Stats prove O’Hara is talking rubbish
Tottenham fans have been going on and on about how Cristian Romero and Van de Ven are both better than Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.
The two Spurs players are decent defenders, but numbers show that they aren’t anywhere near Saliba and Gabriel’s level.
In the 2023/24 season, Arsenal conceded just 29 goals in 38 Premier League games. Tottenham, on the other hand, let in 61 – over twice as many as the Gunners.
Spurs fans will argue that Van de Ven missed a few games due to injuries, but the numbers when he played weren’t great either.
In 27 appearances in the Premier League last season, Van de Ven conceded 41 goals, which is just awful.
Saliba is in a league of his own when compared to Van de Ven. The only thing the Dutchman has over the Arsenal star is pace.
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