Former Arsenal full-back Lee Dixon recalled his “literal slowdown game” with teammate Dennis Bergkamp ahead of their match against local rivals Tottenham.

The pair were team-mates at the Gunners for seven years between 1995 and 2002, winning two league titles and two FA Cups together, but their bond wasn’t always perfect.

Speaking on the latest episode of the Sacked In The Morning podcast, Dixon said: “Dennis had something that no one else had.

“He was injured and I was injured at the same time. Since we were going to play against Tottenham on Saturday, we had to train with substitute players on Thursday. Because the A team had a day off.

“Arsene Wenger was coming from training to watch me and Dennis – they had an 8-a-side game and Dennis was kicking my shin while I was down, so I kicked him while I was down.

“When I got up, he countered me. So I went right, right on his chin. And he hooked me – so we had a full-blown grappling match.

“While we were fighting, Arsene Wenger was coming over to check how we were doing. He just looked and saw that the right-back and the king were hitting each other at three pins.

“All we could hear were his words: ‘What are you doing?’ And at that point we stopped fighting and hugged each other. I had a big black eye and he had a scratch on his face.

“We both played on Saturday and beat Tottenham 2-0 – so it was no problem!”

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds