“Some people don’t respect us. Even here in England, they think it’s the farmers’ league” – Arsenal’s William Saliba defends Ligue 1 clubs | OneFootball

Arsenal centre-back and France international William Saliba (23) has praised the four Ligue 1 clubs – PSG, Monaco, Brest and Lille – for performing in the Champions League. Talking to Canal+ in the aftermath of the Gunners’ convincing 3-0 home win against Les Monégasques, Saliba lamented the disdain shown towards the French top-tier from the other side of the Channel. “I’m glad. I saw Brest and PSG winning yesterday (on Tuesday) and Lille won too“, Saliba mentions. “That feels good because some people don’t respect us. Even here, in England, they think it’s the farmers’ league.“

As a Saint-Etienne youth product rising to prominence following remarkable loans to OGC Nice and Olympique de Marseille from parent club Arsenal, Saliba said it felt good to see French teams winning in Europe’s premier club competition and hoped all four of them would qualify for, at least, the playoff rounds. With 13 points each, Lille and Brest have all but confirmed they won’t finish lower than 24th whilst Monaco and, most of all, PSG still need to grind out results in the last two games of the league phase.

GFFN | Bastien Cheval