Former Ivorian national team defender Emmanuel Eboue was an absentee when ex-Arsenal teammate Cesc Fabregas named his combined London Derby XI involving players that have turned out for Arsenal and Chelsea in the Premier League era.
Emmanuel Eboueand Fabregas shared the Arsenal dressing room for some years before the Spaniard left the Gunners to return to boyhood team Barcelona in 2008. Emmanuel Eboue was the first choice right-back as Arsenal reached the Champions League final for the first time at the end of the 2005/06 season.
Eboue was part of the makeshift Arsenal defence that holds the record for the most consecutive clean sheet in Champions League history till date. Eboue (right-back), KoloToure (right centre back), Philippe Senderos (left centre back) and MatheuFlamini (left-back) were the defenders that aided the Gunners’ solid defensive record of ten games without conceding a single goal in the competition.
Arsenal were unable to finish off the job in the Champions League that season due to the brilliance of Barcelona. The Spaniards scored two late goals to beat 10-man Arsenal 2-1 in the 2006 Champions League final.
Emmanuel Eboue spent the majority of his career at Arsenal whom he joined from Beveren in Belgium. He spent 15 years as a professional footballer and seven of those years were with the Gunners between 2004 and 2011. Apart from Arsenal and Beveren, the Ivorian football icon also featured for ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast, English team Sunderland and Turkish giants Galatasaray.
