Jamie O’Hara does not know why Alexis Sanchez and his Marseille teammates who also used to play for Arsenal will be wanting to do their old club a favour by beating Spurs this week.
Marseille have the chance to knock Antonio Conte’s side out of the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
Spurs were denied a 95th-minute winner at home to Sporting Lisbon last week.
Harry Kane’s goal was ruled out for offside following a lengthy VAR review, denying the Premier League side qualification to the last 16 of the Champions League with a game to spare.
Instead, they now face Marseille away from home in a must-not-lose encounter.
Marseille were beaten 2-1 by Eintracht Frankfurt last week, leaving Group D very much in the balance.
The French side are currently bottom with six points but can win the group if they beat Spurs and Frankfurt draw in Lisbon against Sporting.
Much has been said about Marseille’s large ex-Arsenal contingent.
Former forward Alexis Sanchez joined the club in the summer, as did Nuno Tavares, who is on loan from the Gunners.
Sead Kolasinac signed for Marseille on a free transfer from Arsenal in January after falling out of favour under Mikel Arteta.
And finally, Matteo Guendouzi is one of Marseille’s star players after leaving north London on a permanent basis in the summer.
The 23-year-old joined the Ligue 1 giants on loan with the option to buy.
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The option was taken up as he joined for a measly £9.9million.
Guendouzi is the player most likely to star against Spurs, although Alexis has been discussing the match and his love for Arsenal this week.
“I have great affection for Arsenal from my time there,” he said. “Beating Spurs every time was a great joy.”
“In the dressing room, there is a lot of passion. Playing in front of the fans with their atmosphere is super important and that will drive us on.”
And former Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara has questioned why any of the former Arsenal players – or in Tavares’ case, current player – would want to do their old club a favour.
Remarkably, O’Hara has claimed that all four “weren’t good enough for Arsenal”.
This is a bizarre claim to make considering Alexis was world class for the Gunners before joining Manchester United and becoming crap.
Guendouzi definitely is good enough for Arsenal. His attitude was the problem, not his ability to play football.
Tavares, on the other hand, is very raw and has a lot of room for improvement, but he is young and has potential.
Kolasinac… I’ll give you that one, Jamie.
Discussing the ex-Arsenal quartet and the huge match for his former club, O’Hara told Sky Sports: “They played for Arsenal, I get that. They probably want to do Arsenal a favour. But at the end of the day, they weren’t good enough for Arsenal, so they were gone.
“I don’t know why they care about doing Arsenal any favours. At the end of the day they should be doing a favour for Marseille.
“Marseille can still go through, so this is a massive night for them as well.
“Them as players need to step up.
“Look, it adds a little bit of fire to the game, it’s going to be hostile, they are going to want to play well, it’s going to give them an extra edge.
“The Tottenham players just need to concentrate on themselves, concentrate on your own performance, go out there as a team.
“There is going to be tough moments in this game, this is not going to be a walk in the park and the players have got to stick together, don’t get on each others backs, encourage each other to get through the game and find a way through this group stage.
“It has been tough, it really has.”
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