Kolo Toure has revealed just how competitive Arsenal legends Thierry Henry and Martin Keown were during the club’s heyday in the Premier League era.
Henry and Keown were key parts of an Arsenal squad which won the Premier League title twice in three seasons from 2002 to 2004 and Toure, who joined the club in 2002, says the duo’s competitiveness set them apart.
Whilst Henry and Keown were vastly different players with one of them a majestic performer and the other an enforcer, Toure explained that their ‘intensity’ was a key reason behind their brilliance and why Arsenal enjoyed success.
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“Training was really intense – sometimes more so than matches,” Toure told The Telegraph. “It was really, really challenging.
“Martin Keown was really competitive but Henry was similar, he wanted to win every game. He was fuming when he was losing matches at training.”
Toure, who was speaking in an exclusive interview with the Daily Telegraph about his time at the Gunners, added that sometimes this intensity would boil over and lead to ‘fights’ in training.
“Everybody wanted to win every game and occasionally there would be fights between the players,” Toure added. “The team was full of spirit and winners.”
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