Gabby Agbonlahor: Manchester United and Liverpool stars were masters of the dark arts, but I hated playing Newcastle legend the most

Mastering the dark arts in football is seemingly something that goes hand-in-hand with success.

Think of some of the great Premier League teams and they’ve always had players who were nasty to play against, but knew how to tread the line perfectly.

Roy Keane at Manchester United was an expert, along with Patrick Vieira at Arsenal too.

More recently, Fernandinho and Rodri have been the masters behind Man City’s success.

talkSPORT’s very own Gabby Agbonlahor, the Aston Villa legend, has come up against several players who were horrible to play against.

But how do rivals try to get in your head on the pitch? Gabby revealed all on a few techniques people would use.

“There’s times when something personal about you is out in the news and players use that against you. 

“Or they could hear something about a partner and use that against players. It's pretty brutal out there.”

Aside from the verbal abuse, there are also physical ways to tame an opponent. 

He added: “People would step on your Achilles from the back with the big studs you used to play with.

“It was nothing bad, but the refs aren't going to see that. A little knee in the hamstring too.

“VAR back then would have had a field day with red cards all over the place. People would elbow you while going up for a header and stamp on your toes when it was cold and make it worse.”

In terms of the worst players Agbonlahor played against, it was a Newcastle hero that was among the worst.

“I played Under-21s with Steven Taylor, but he would pinch me all the time on the pitch, everywhere. 

“He'd pinch your back when he stood behind you, in between your ribs, pinch on the back of your neck. You're like ‘oh just stop’ but back then it was something that you didn't really see on the cameras and