5 of the best homegrown players in Arsenal's history

#2 Ray Parlour

Parlour scored a wonderful strike in the FA Cup Final against Chelsea

'The Romford Pele' as Marc Overmars named him, Ray Parlour was a much better footballer than he received credit for.

The Englishman was very much an unsung hero during his time at the club and played a bigger part than many people thought.

For example, it’s a statistic not everybody would immediately associate with Parlour, but he actually holds the record for most appearances in the Premier League for Arsenal. After his breakthrough season in the First Division in the 1991/92 season, he played over 20 matches in every season, bar one, up until when he left in 2004.

Parlour played regularly on the right or in central midfield in the 1997/98 Premier League title victory for the club, and also won the man of the match in the FA Cup Final as Arsenal clinched the double that season.

In 2002, after Arsenal had again won the Premier League title, they had another chance at a double. The man who would lead them to another FA Cup victory again? Parlour. He won the man of the match again in the final. This time scoring a wonderful opening goal from 30 yards, as Arsenal went on to win 2-0.

This is all without mentioning Parlour played an important part in Arsenal’s invincibles season, making 25 league appearances.

He would end his time at Arsenal with three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and a League Cup. It was a quite successful career for a home-grown player.