GOODBYE GUNNERS
Tottenham legend Roberts insists Poch’s team are up there with the best ever and it will take Arsenal FOUR YEARS to close the gap
TOTTENHAM legend Graham Roberts believes Arsenal face years in the shadow of their north London rivals.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side, second behind Chelsea, are on course to finish above the Gunners for the first time in over 20 years.
Roberts, now a Spurs club ambassador, said: “I think it is going to take three or four years now before they get anywhere near to finishing above us again. One hundred per cent.
“Our manager and our chairman (Daniel Levy) will improve the squad every year. They won’t be like Arsenal and buy mediocre midfielders and centre-halves.
“Our chairman has also tied down our players for five more years on contracts. Everyone can see how well the club is being run.”
Roberts, a celebrated midfielder, lifted the 1984 UEFA Cup and two FA Cups under Keith Burkinshaw, and believes an FA Cup win this season could provide the launchpad for another golden era.
“This could become one of the best teams that Tottenham has ever, had.” he said. “They have got everything. Pace, power – the lot.
“They just need a trophy. We’d already got over that hurdle of winning two FA Cups, and the UEFA Cup was the next hurdle we had to get over.
“Until this team wins something, everybody will say they are a nearly team. So, this year, win the FA Cup, cross that line. Then, once they’ve got one in their basket, they will get three or four. No doubt about it.”
Chelsea will be formidable opponents in the FA Cup semi-finals later this month. Yet Roberts, who also played for the Blues, believes January’s league win over their London rivals means Spurs can go into the Wembley tie with confidence.
“We are the one team Chelsea didn’t want to get,” he said. “We are the team they fear. We know that man-for-man we are a better team.
“Look at Dele Alli. The kid is unbelievable. We haven’t had anybody like him since Gazza and Glenn Hoddle. “You give Mousa Dembele the ball and people just bounce off him. I haven’t seen that since the Ricky Villa days, when I used to bounce off him in training.
“Everybody is raving about Kante, but he and Matic never got a kick at White Hart Lane. They got bullied off the ball.
“We’ve got players now that can say, ‘Yeah, we’re up for a scrap.”
Roberts (above), who knew all about a scrap as a player, is in New Zealand this week meeting with supporters’ groups.
He added: “Harry Redknapp was a great manager for the club.
“Now we’ve got Pochettino. Arsenal have had their time. Now our time has come around.”