Robert Pires: Gary Neville would always insult me – I knew I was going to suffer

Over the same period, between 2000 and 2006, he won two Premier League titles, three FA Cups and was voted Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association in 2002.

Whereas things generally went his way during his six years in an Arsenal shirt, against United they did not. “My record against them is catastrophic and I know it,” he says.

Not that he has to look far for an explanation. “My friend Gary Neville,” Pires, 48, says with a rueful smile. “Psychologically, he was always on top of me. He would talk to me all the time, he’d insult me all the time. It was in English, so I didn’t understand anything, but I knew they weren’t nice words.

“He was always talking to me, always barging me, always looking for me. He knew how to unsettle me. And unfortunately, he won. I had run-ins with him, with Wayne Rooney. All the time.”

Aside from the verbals, though, what made Neville such a difficult opponent? He was not big, he was not particularly quick . . . Pires interrupts by making a scything motion with his right hand. Neville, the implication is, made his presence felt.

“And yet I had the same thing in training, with Lee Dixon,” Pires says. “But [Neville] was really tough. It was just psychological with him. I knew I wasn’t going to succeed. I knew I was going to suffer.”

This week’s encounter between the clubs at Old Trafford will not carry the same fire and fury as those past encounters, or indeed the same lustre of the Wenger-Ferguson years — not with Arsenal fifth in the Premier League and United languishing five points behind them in eighth.

United, Arsenal, United, Arsenal. One of the two won the title in each of Pires’s first four seasons in England, before José Mourinho’s Chelsea left both sides trailing in 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Pires’s first game against United with Arsenal, in February 2001, gave him a taste of things to come.

Although he set up an equaliser for Thierry Henry in front of the Stretford End at Old Trafford, Pires and his team-mates found themselves 5-1 down to Sir Alex Ferguson’s men at half-time, with Dwight Yorke notching a hat-trick in the opening 22 minutes. The game finished 6-1.

“We were taught a football lesson in the first half, which happened rarely,” Pires says. “And what’s more, we equalise, right? I get in down the right, I pull the ball back and Titi [Henry] scores. And we thought, ‘Yes, magnificent.’ Ha — and then Manchester United went through the gears.

“They were merciless. Merciless. Bam, bam, bam. It was the only time I saw and heard Arsène Wenger get annoyed at half-time. He said some things that weren’t very gentle.”

Although Pires lost more games against United than he won, he relished the rivalry.

“We had the same level, honestly,” says the Frenchman, who left Arsenal for Villarreal in 2006. “It’s difficult to say who was the best. The matches were always special. They came down to small details, to the qualities of individual players. But they were always great matches.”

Pires and Henry were often excellent on the pitch together, although they infamously botched a penalty move against Manchester City.

The first memory that resurfaces, when he casts his mind back, is the notorious confrontation between Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane in the narrow, whitewashed tunnel at Arsenal’s former home at Highbury before United’s stormy 4-2 victory there in February 2005.

“Things started to get heated and I think it was because of me actually,” says Pires, who now works as a television pundit for Canal+ and M6.

“Gary Neville arrived and barged into me. I reacted in French because I was annoyed. It starts kicking off and at that point, Pat arrives. He said to him, ‘You speak too much, you. Shut up.’

“At that moment, Keane arrives. And he goes, ‘You talk too much as well. I’ll see you on the pitch.’ It was dicey between the two of them, tense. That for me was one of the best moments.

“Then you have the spectacular Thierry Henry goal at Highbury [in October 2000], where he receives the pass from Gilles Grimandi, flicks the ball up, pivots and boof. [He mimes the trajectory of Henry’s looping volley] They were always crazy matches.”

Pires has been encouraged by what he has seen of late from Arsenal, who early on this season found themselves at the bottom of the table, but who have climbed into Champions League contention after picking up 23 points from a possible 30.

“Mikel Arteta has found a balance and players who give him what he wants,” he says. “He made the strong choice of [starting] Aaron Ramsdale, which has paid off.

“Then you have the two petits who I like a lot, [Bukayo] Saka and Emile Smith Rowe. It’s a blend of youthful insouciance and older guys like [Alexandre] Lacazette, [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, Gabriel, Thomas Partey.

“Mikel Arteta has his own philosophy and now he’s putting that in place on the pitch. It will come gently, but when you have so many new players arriving at a club like Arsenal, you have to be patient.”

Pires spent time training with Arsenal four years ago while Saka and Smith Rowe were coming through the ranks and says he quickly fell under their charm.

So why is he so fond of them?

“Because they take risks,” he says. “Because they’re not afraid of responsibilities. And because they dare. That’s what football is. Especially when you play in their positions. I know those positions and you have to take risks. Sometimes they’ll come off, sometimes they won’t, but it doesn’t matter.

“I know them because when I was last at Arsenal, I trained with them. I knew that they’d do well. People will think, ‘Oh, it’s easy to say that now.’ But I saw them coming, I saw them starting with the first team, I was there with them. That’s why I like them. And they have very good mentalities.”

United, meanwhile, are gearing up for life under Ralf Rangnick, their newly appointed interim manager, after a run of five defeats in seven games left the club’s title aspirations in tatters and cost one of their club legends, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, his job. Not that Pires takes any delight in seeing his old adversaries suffer. “I want them to come back,” he says. “Yes, I played for Arsenal, but England needs Manchester United to be in the top places.”

Gary Neville would surely agree.