{"id":332122,"date":"2026-05-10T03:21:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T21:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=332122"},"modified":"2026-05-10T03:21:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T21:51:27","slug":"noni-madueke-names-his-hardest-opponent-at-arsenal-and-chelsea-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/10\/noni-madueke-names-his-hardest-opponent-at-arsenal-and-chelsea-football\/","title":{"rendered":"Noni Madueke names his &#8216;hardest opponent&#8217; at Arsenal and Chelsea | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t\t<\/div><figcaption>Noni Madueke joined Arsenal from Chelsea last summer (Picture: Sky Sports)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Noni Madueke has revealed the \u2018hardest opponent\u2019 he has faced during his profession to this point at Premier League clubs Arsenal and Chelsea.<\/p>\n<p>Madueke made near 100 appearances for Chelsea after being signed from PSV in 2023, helping the Blues qualify for the Champions League and win the Conference League last season.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal agreed to pay London rivals Chelsea over \u00a350m for the England international last summer, with a big section of fans sceptical concerning the value of such a deal.<\/p>\n<p>Madueke has not been a guaranteed starter under Mikel Arteta but has still played an element in Arsenal difficult for the Premier League title and reaching the ultimate of the Champions League.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old has come up against a few of the most effective players in Europe but views Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk as his \u2018hardest opponent\u2019 up to now.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I might\u00a0probably say\u00a0Virgil van Dijk,\u2019 Madueke told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/football\">Sky Sports<\/a>. \u2018He\u2019s\u00a0just so big and fast so\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0difficult to get in behind him.\u00a0I might probably\u00a0say\u00a0him, obviously.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Playing against players\u00a0like that is sweet competition, you wish to test yourself against the most effective,\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0the mindset you\u00a0must\u00a0have going into the sport.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274591496.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28300220\" alt=\"Arsenal FC v Atletico de Madrid - UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 Semi Final Second Leg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<\/div><figcaption>Madueke in motion for Premier League leaders Arsenal (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s football at the very best\u00a0level so it\u2019s definitely fun to check yourself against\u00a0those style of players.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Discussing his move from Chelsea to Arsenal, Madueke added: \u2018I just believed Arsenal\u00a0were going to win trophies so\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0why I\u00a0moved.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The England boys helped me lots, I used to be already near\u00a0them\u00a0so it was great. The entire club helped me though, everyone in and across the club was helpful.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2275292248.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28300247\" alt=\"Liverpool v Chelsea - Premier League\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<\/div><figcaption>Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018It\u2019s\u00a0filled with good people and folks who wish to work hard and achieve something. It was easy in that sense.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Madueke\u2019s Arsenal teammate Declan Rice is one in every of the frontunners to win the PFA Premier League Player of the Yr award after a superb season in north London.<\/p>\n<p>Asked whether he believes Rice deserves the award, Madueke said: \u2018Yeah, definitely. I hope he wins it.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Have a look at how consistent\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0been this season.\u00a0Those style of trophies\u00a0depend upon team success in addition to individual performances but when we\u00a0win\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0sure he has an actual likelihood.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019ve\u00a0known him for a couple of years now and\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0a top, top person and a top player,\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0got an incredible vibe about him off the\u00a0pitch\u00a0and on the pitch\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0obviously a top player and a pacesetter.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal beat Atletico Madrid last day trip to succeed in their first Champions League final in 20 years.<\/p>\n<p>Arteta\u2019s side return to motion on Sunday with one other crucial Premier League fixture against relegation-battlers and London rivals West Ham.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this,\u00a0check our sport page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Follow Metro Sport for the most recent news on <meta charset=\"utf-8\"><br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sportmetro\">Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Metro_Sport\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/metrosportuk\/\">Instagram<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Pep Guardiola sends title message to Arsenal after Man City beat Brentford<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: \u2018So weak\u2019 \u2013 Michael Carrick urged to sell Man Utd star after Sunderland draw<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Michael Carrick names Man Utd star who was \u2018isolated\u2019 during Sunderland draw<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\"><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-comments\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"><\/use><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"><\/use><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Noni Madueke joined Arsenal from Chelsea last summer (Picture: Sky Sports) Noni Madueke has revealed the \u2018hardest opponent\u2019 he has faced during his profession to this point at Premier League clubs Arsenal and Chelsea. Madueke made near 100 appearances for Chelsea after being signed from PSV in 2023, helping the Blues qualify for the Champions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":332123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20686],"tags":[2605,1289,5479,21149,3820,21148,8845,11567],"class_list":["post-332122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-arsenal","tag-chelsea","tag-football","tag-madueke","tag-names","tag-noni","tag-opponent","tag-toughest"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332122"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":332125,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332122\/revisions\/332125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}