Arsenal hero Jack Wilshere has named the one former Tottenham Hotspur player he always hated playing against.

The Englishman is now the manager of Arsenal‘s U18s side, and he has been doing a very good job behind the scenes there.

Arsenal fans absolutely love Wilshere, but the 32-year-old hasn’t always had a great relationship with Tottenham supporters. However, he has now said some good things about a former Spurs star.

Jack Wilshere names the one difference between Mousa Dembele and Steven Gerrard

Mousa Dembele was a joy to watch when he was at Tottenham.

The former Belgium international joined Spurs from Fulham in the summer of 2012 and spent six and a half years at the club. He played 249 times for the North Londoners and was a fan favourite there.

In January 2019, Dembele left Tottenham and moved to Chinese Super League side Guangzhou R&F for £11 million (BBC).

The 36-year-old announced his retirement from professional football in 2023, but he is still fondly remembered by everyone at Spurs.

Some of his former teammates still rave about him, with Kieran Trippier claiming in November 2023 that he’s the best player he ever played with.

Tim Sherwood believes Tottenham are still yet to replace Dembele in the middle of their park.

Now, one of Dembele’s former opponents has sung his praises.

Arsenal hero Jack Wilshere named Steven Gerrard as the greatest midfielder ever, but when asked to name his toughest opponent in the middle of the park, he quickly said Dembele.

Wilshere then explained the difference between Dembele and Gerrard.

“He (Gerrard) would be up there, but it would be Mousa Dembele. I hated playing against him,” Wilshere told Sky Sports.

“Don’t get me wrong, that’s why I didn’t put him (Dembele) there because out of possession, he wasn’t as good as Gerrard, he wasn’t as committed. But, in possession, like getting the ball off him…

“Obviously, the games I played him in would be the North London derby. There’s a little bit extra on there and he would be even more at it. Yeah, you can get bored of him.”

READ MORE: Jack Wilshere reveals which Arsenal game made Arsene Wenger the maddest he’s ever seen him

What Wilshere has told Arsenal U18 players about Tottenham

Jack Wilshere has no love for Tottenham – he has made it clear on many occasions.

The Englishman, when he was a player, joined in with the Arsenal fans and even initiated a few chants against their fierce North London rivals.

That, as you can imagine, did not go down well with Spurs fans, which is why they don’t really like him.

Wilshere, who is now the U18s boss at Arsenal, is passing on his experiences to the next generation, and he has already made one thing clear to the Gunners youngsters – Tottenham are the enemy!

“I said to my players the other day because we played Tottenham, no matter what you think about this game, they are the enemy,” he said in the same interview.

Wilshere further claimed that Arsenal’s young players need to have that in their DNA. We’re sure Gooners will absolutely love that.