Clichy feeling title pressure

Gaël Clichy admits that the longer Arsenal go without a trophy, the harder it can get to control the nerves as they head towards the finish line.

Clichy was part of the squad that lead the Premiership for so long in 07/08, only to slip up in the last couple of months, and admits that these bad memories can make players doubt themselves.

He told Arsenal.com: "When you're getting so close to winning something and you don't win it – one year, two years – of course you're getting a bit nervous and you want to win this first trophy and you can open the door and go on.

"Everyone wants to be the champion and it's always difficult to be the champion, but to be the team who hasn't won anything for several years, it's even harder because you feel the pressure of winning something.

"It's a good pressure because you want to do well for the fans and for yourself and win a trophy. We've played good football for five years and we know that we are a real side, but we know as well that the fans, the people in football, like to see a team winning things. So that's what we want to do."

The Frenchman was also part of Arsenal's last title success in 2004, but concedes that he has also learned a lot from watching the success of Chelsea and Manchester United since then.

He continued: "I think it's always better to have the cup in your hand but it's always good to see a team that's winning, because that's telling you that maybe this season they've been better than you and you need to work harder to be there the next season.

"It's not jealousy because if they win it, they deserve it because they've been better than you."

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