You’d be called a lunatic if you believed Leicester would win Premier League before Arsenal – they lacked professionalism

Leicester winning the Premier League before Arsenal was unthinkable – the differences between the clubs were astronomical.

That’s the view of Martin Keown, who won three league titles with the Gunners before joining the Foxes in 2004.

6

Keown departed north London after becoming an Invincible to join the Midlands outfit, who had just been relegated from the top-flight.

He remained at Leicester for just six months – making 18 appearances in all competitions before linking up with Reading.

Three years after dropping down to the Championship, Leicester were then relegated to League One, where they sealed an instant return to England’s second-tier.

Five more years languishing in the Championship followed before Leicester finally sealed their return to the Premier League in 2014.

And just a year after beating the drop, Claudio Ranieri guided Leicester to a historic first league title against the odds.

Heading into the 2015/16 campaign, they were 5000-1 to come out on top, but managed to pip Arsenal to the championship to complete a fairytale triumph.

It marked an incredible 12-year period from dropping out of the Premier League, to competing in League One to then achieving the unthinkable.

In that time, Arsenal, who won three titles between 1998-2004, have failed to win another championship, despite coming close in recent years under Mikel Arteta.

And Keown told talkSPORT you’d have been a ‘raving lunatic’ if you ever predicted title success when he was at Leicester – insisting they lacked professionalism and a winning mentality during his time.

“I was 38 years of age,” he recalled of his transfer. “Jamie Vardy isn’t the only one to play for that club at that age!

6

6

6

“I was probably a bit too old, I played 18 games for them up until Christmas and then moved on to Reading.

“I enjoyed it there, I played with Dion Dublin, Jason Wilcox, there was quite a group of players.

“But when you come down from the Premier League, you’re looking around and the squad was decimated really with players that had to move on.

“It was a difficult and turbulent time for the club. If you’d have asked me then when I was there, ‘Would they be Premier League winners before Arsenal?’

“I’d have said, ‘You must be a raving lunatic,’ because there is no way that could happen.

“I didn’t see the professionalism at the club that I was hoping, but I shouldn’t have been surprised.

6

“Maybe I was naive, but I found it a little difficult there as you’re used to winning things at Arsenal.

“You try to create change, and you maybe go down as a troublemaker because of it, but that’s a political thing.

“Apart from that, there would good people at the club behind the scenes and I was delighted to see them go on and do well.”

And when pressed on what is a more impressive achievement from Arsenal winning the league unbeaten to Leicester’s own success, Keown refused to name a winner.

He remarked: “I don’t know why we have to do that! It’s something unique for both teams in a way.

“Because Leicester in modern times doing what they did was remarkable.

“It’s still remarkable going unbeaten over a whole a season and maybe more difficult when you see Liverpool going out the FA Cup this week [to Plymouth].

“Everyone talking that they’re going to win four trophies and then suddenly we say, ‘OK, where’s it going to go wrong next?’

“That’s the kind of pressure that’s on people, there’s so many fixtures, so many games, I’m not sure whether we will see the unbeaten record matched.

“Although I’ve been saying a few times, Man City have got close, Liverpool have only lost one Premier League game [this season].

“So it could be done again, but both achievements – for Leicester – even winning the FA Cup [in 2021] is just another incredible achievement for them.”

Arsenal face Leicester at the King Power Stadium in Saturday’s early kick-off with the two clubs on opposite ends of the table.

6

The Gunners – sitting second in the table – are looking to keep the pressure on Premier League leaders Liverpool.

As for Leicester, victory for them would lift them out of the bottom three above Wolves, who face the Reds at Anfield on Sunday.