Martin Keown says one Arsenal Invincible was ‘better’ than Roy Keane, he’s totally right

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Arsenal have had some legendary players over the years, and some Premier League icons formed part of the Invincibles side.

Arsenal’s last Premier League triumph came in 2004, as Arsene Wenger’s team went the entire season unbeaten, and several icons from that side are regarded as some of the best English football has ever seen.

The late 1990s and early 2000s saw Arsenal engage in a fierce rivalry with Manchester United, and Martin Keown was a particularly aggressive figure during these games.

Man United legend Roy Keane was also a fearsome opponent, but Keown has now claimed that Arsenal had a player who was even better than him.

• READ MORE: Who are The Invincibles? Meet the Arsenal record-breakers who became Premier League legends

Martin Keown says Patrick Vieira was better than Roy Keane

There has always been huge debate over who was better out of Keane and Patrick Vieira, with the two engaging in some of the most heated battles in Premier League history.

Speaking on the Peter Crouch Podcast, Keown has weighed in on the debate, and he was adamant that Vieira was the better player.

“I think without Patrick – he was the link wasn’t he? He was like a ladder to the goal, you’d have to go to that first ladder, which was Patrick,” Keown stated of Vieira.

“People talk about Roy Keane you know, I put him ahead of Roy Keane. Okay that’s a massive debate, but listen, this guy had everything.

“[He could have] three or four players around him, but it didn’t matter, he’d just use you, bounce off, and get the ball back somewhere else.

“People used to look at him in the tunnel. That 1997-98 group were pioneers for the way we were going to play football. People would look at him in the tunnel and say ‘wow, he’s even bigger in real life than we saw on the TV, we can’t kick him!'”

Patrick Vieira was Arsenal’s greatest midfielder

Vieira was one of Arsenal’s best-ever players, and no central midfielder has made more of an impact.

Wenger won three titles in his time at Arsenal, and Vieira was a crucial figure in all three, arguably more important than Thierry Henry or Dennis Bergkamp.

The Frenchman’s combination of technical excellence, combined with sheer strength and a brutal mentality, made him nearly impossible to play against.

Keane was also outstanding for Man United as their legendary captain, but most Arsenal fans would agree that Vieira had the edge on him when it comes to both size and ability.