'Arsene Wenger turned me and Arsenal into superheroes - but his one obsession cost us'

Martin Keown has claimed one "obsession" cost greatly during his time as a player for the north London outfit. The defender enjoyed a stellar career with Arsenal and was part of the side that went an entire season unbeaten, but he believes the Gunners could've achieved much more.

Despite their domestic dominance, Arsenal were never able to crack the European code under Wenger, with the former Monaco manager making just one final during his two-decade-long stay with the club. According to Keown, who played over 260 times under Wenger, the reason is that he was too focused on the instead. Arsenal did enjoy plenty of success in the competition, winning it seven times under Wenger's tutelage, but Keown believes it got in the way at times.

Speaking about the manager's fascination with the competition, Keown explained on the : "We got that honour of going unbeaten for the whole season, but that wasn't the target. The target was the Treble. That team was more than capable enough of doing it. Wenger's obsession with the FA Cup I think got in the way. In the latter stages of the Champions League, you're playing the FA Cup in the middle of the quarter-final. Looking back, that stopped us from doing more in the Champions League."

It wasn't all doom and gloom though, with Keown heralding his impact. He added: "There's a culture of behaviour, so Wenger wouldn't ask us to do anything he didn't want us to... the slogans went up on the board 'chew to win'. He explained what it means, 'if you're chewing too fast you're taking energy from your head'.

"They told us we need a bottle of water everywhere we go and it has to be room temperature. Because if it isn't, we're peeing it straight out. We can't be doing that, as it's dehydrating... you felt like this incredible athlete, we're thinking, 'we are not giving up any of this because I feel like Superman."

On the Frenchman, he continued: "When I finally get to Wenger, we cut through all of that red tape. We've got to go and win something. And I'm the single most important person in the team now, he's convinced me of that. I think that's what good management is. Empowering people to do the best they can."