Exclusive: Lee Hendrie names two players he 'absolutely hated' playing against ft Arsenal and Liverpool stars | OneFootball

Lee Hendrie spent 14 years in claret and blue, racking up over 250 Premier League appearances in the process

Sky Sports pundit and former Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie has revealed the two opponents he 'absolutely hated' playing against.

The 48-year-old spent 14 years in claret and blue, racking up over 250 Premier League appearances for the club before eventually dropping down the English football pyramid.

Speaking exclusively to FLW, Hendrie reveals how both players pushed him to the absolute limit every time he played against them.

Given the fact that he was around for so long, you might not be surprised that he chose two of his generation's best ever midfielders - and there's only three years between all of them in age.

Lee Hendrie labels ex-Arsenal icon Patrick Vieira "so difficult" to play against

Hendrie's first choice is Patrick Vieira, the French midfielder who served as Arsenal's captain and one of the most dominant box-to-box midfielders in Premier League history.

Over his nine-year spell at Arsenal from 1996 to 2005, Vieira established himself as an almost unmatchable force in the middle of the park, and his encounters with Villa presented particular challenges for opponents like Hendrie.

"Patrick Vieira - he was just so difficult on a sort of one v one battle, particularly playing in midfield where he was a man mountain, he was physical, he was box-to-box, you know he had everything," Hendrie explained when discussing why the Arsenal legend made his list.

"And really, really difficult to sort of get around but you know, it was a challenge I was always up for," the Sky Sports pundit added.

Vieira won three Premier League titles with the Gunners and captained them through their 'Invincibles' 2003/04 campaign - which saw Arsenal go through an entire league season without defeat.

The Frenchman's final season of his playing career would be the solitary one he spent at Manchester City, where he also won the FA Cup in 2011.

What Lee Hendrie said about Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard

Secondly, Hendrie brings Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard into the conversation.

Perhaps similar to Vieira’s physicality, the ex-midfielder revealed how Gerrard’s intensity and aggression made him a world-class talent.

Hendrie said, "Same with Steven Gerrard, he was phenomenal. You know his energy, the way he played the game, his intensity, his aggression."

Gerrard would go on to score 12 goals in 25 top-flight appearances against Aston Villa throughout his career - only losing four of these. In 2001, Hendrie scored an equaliser against Liverpool in a 2-1 home defeat - of which both him and Gerrard started.

So you can probably imagine how much of a menace Gerrard would’ve been against Hendrie, who had been in Villa’s first-team for four years by the time the future Liverpool captain made his debut in 1998.

"I mean these were two top players back in the day when I was playing and any time I came up against a Liverpool or an Arsenal, you knew you had to be on your game," Hendrie continued, explaining just how these encounters demanded his absolute best.

He concluded by saying, "They were the players that I sort of looked at and thought I need to be bang at it today and really be on my game if I’m going to succeed."