Ray Parlour: Football moves in cycles – and the next one could be Arsenal's

Arsenal legend Ray Parlour says that his former club could establish themselves as one of the dominant forces in the Premier League in the next few seasons. 

Parlour was one of the mainstays of an Arsenal side that lifted three titles under Arsene Wenger when the Premier League was a duopoly. The Gunners have now gone 19 years without a title – the last of which came in the Romford Pele's last season at Highbury.

Now, the former midfielder says that he thinks this current crop of stars could re-establish the north Londoners as a dominant force in the Premier League – so long as they build on this excellent young core of stars and continue to get the recruitment right. 

“I think we had a period of ‘98 to ‘04 where it was Arsenal and Manchester United and no other club could compete,” Parlour tells FourFourTwo.

“And then Chelsea came along to be the threat to Manchester United: more than Arsenal, actually, our financial situation wasn’t the best at the time with the stadium. 

“Chelsea spent the money, bought top-class players and had Jose Mourinho leading them. It sometimes works like that: it goes around it cycles. Who’d have thought Liverpool would be where they are this season? Chelsea have had such success and now they’re going through a bad moment. They’ll be back, I’m sure, when they get the right manager in place. 

“But for Arsenal, now, it’s been a long time – 19 years since we won the last title – but they’ve got a good squad of players now and if they can build on what they’ve got, especially the young players, then they could be the threat of the next couple of years.”

Ray Parlour was speaking to FourFourTwo on behalf of NetBet horse racing betting.