Bacary Sagna reveals the Arsenal dressing room issues that led to their big-game defeats

The Gunners have struggled to rise for the big occasions in recent years

Former Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna believes the Gunners "under-evaluated" themselves which led to their poor record in games against the top four.

The Gunners' record against their biggest rivals in England and across Europe dwindled in the last decade under Arsene Wenger.

That led to some embarrassing defeats such as a 6-0 defeat against Chelsea and losing the Carabao Cup final to Birmingham City in 2011.

Despite their struggles in big games, Arsenal would always find themselves coming out on top against the rest of the Premier League, which saw them finish in the Champions League places regularly under Wenger, during Sagna's time at the club.

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However, the Frenchman, who went on to play for Manchester City, believes that a lack of self-belief was the main contributing factor to their failings against their closest rivals.

"We just played game by game and we were winning a lot but obviously and eventually when we had to perform in certain games, we were failing," he told the Gunners in lockdown podcast.

"Maybe it was because we put too much pressure on ourselves.

"Most of the games we had to play, we played well and we won. But for example, when we had to play against the top four, we found it difficult to play against them at that time.

"I believe we under-evaluated ourselves. Playing for Chelsea, image-wise, was something different. They used their image a lot, they used to have some big players in the national team and we used to talk about them more than they talked about us.

"Maybe in our heads, they were bigger players than us. On the pitch, we had as much quality as they had whenever we played, and when we played the Arsenal way nobody could beat us.

"I believed nobody could beat us. We used to play simple passes, one, two-touches maximum. But I believe we under-evaluated ourselves which is a big mistake in life."