Arsenal legend Ray Parlour may have surprised fans a bit with his picks for his Premier League five-a-side.
The Gunners finished the season in second place for the third season in a row, with the club ending the season without a trophy yet again.
Despite the disappointing end to their campaign, there were quite a few standout players for Arsenal who performed consistently to help the team compete with Liverpool for the title in the Premier League and reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, thrashing Real Madrid on the way.
However, with the season-ending, the former midfielder thinks just one Arsenal player was good enough to make his five-a-side team.
Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Only one Arsenal player makes Ray Parlour’s Premier League five-a-side team
Parlour was asked to pick his team by Faizan Sameer on Instagram, where he opted for Alisson Becker in goal, snubbing Arsenal’s David Raya.
In defence, he selected Virgil van Dijk as his sole centre-back, choosing the Liverpool star over Arsenal duo Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba.
Parlour’s first and only Arsenal inclusion came in midfield, where he picked Declan Rice to partner Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne.
Up front, he gave the final spot to Mohamed Salah, favouring the Liverpool forward ahead of Erling Haaland.
Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri have impressed Ray Parlour
While Rice was the only Arsenal player to have made his team, Parlour has praised Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri recently, backing them to become superstars in the future.
Both players have broken into the team and have impressed with performances beyond their age.
Lewis-Skelly in particular has been widely praised for the way he has performed at left-back this season.
His performances have even attracted interest from abroad, with Real Madrid reportedly keeping an eye on Lewis-Skelly.
Speaking to HaytersTV, Parlour praised the duo saying: “I think they have really shocked everyone.
“Sometimes, you need that little bit of luck with certain injuries. Obviously, they have been training well with the first team. At one stage, Arteta has probably said, ‘I’ve got to give them a go’, and they haven’t looked back, really. I’m really pleased for them.
“It’s early in their careers. It’s a big, long, hard route in front of them to become top, top stars of football going forward, but if they can get the right people around them and keep working hard in training, which Mikel Arteta will demand I’m sure, they can be superstars because they’ve got everything going for them.”