The increasing pessimism surrounding Arsenal's ability to compete with the big guns in the Premiership and Europe this season gained another doubter yesterday in the unlikely shape of Emmanuel Petit, one of Arsene Wenger's closest on-field allies for more than a decade. Petit fears the crumbling of a once-great empire. The midfield mainstay of Wenger's success at Monaco and his early days at Arsenal, surveys a north London landscape shorn in recent months of Thierry Henry, Freddie Ljungberg and David Dein, and gives a Gallic shrug. "I am afraid for Arsenal," he says. "To be honest, I think they will not finish in the top four," he states boldly, but without pleasure. "Look, I am an Arsenal fan, and I don't think they will even finish fourth. Why? Because when I see Manchester United and Liverpool and Chelsea, they are stronger than them."On one game Arsenal can beat anyone, but over a whole season you can feel the strength and power of the other teams. When I see Newcastle, and Tottenham as well, they are becoming stronger. I can understand Freddie," he adds in reference to Ljungberg's outspoken comments about Arsenal's prospects earlier in the week after his defection to West Ham. Petit recognises what finishing outside the qualifying positions for Europe's top competition would mean to a club the size of Arsenal. "This season is a very important one for Arsenal: if they are not in the Champions League next season they will be dead financially unless [American businessman Stan] Kroenke buys the club."
Petit, now 36, and 2½ years retired, does not speak of the club he served for three glorious seasons from the safety of the natural barrier provided by the English Channel; he spent much of last season watching Arsenal from close range on behalf of French television. He admires many of the players under Wenger's command, but pinpoints why they have fallen behind Manchester United and Chelsea: "You know what they need to have: the fighting spirit, definitely. If they play only beautiful football, it will work in the Champions League, but it will be difficult in the Premiership. Look at United: they were fighting on the pitch; they fight for every ball and they [the Arsenal players] need to understand that. I want to see them play with big character. I don't want to see players fighting like dogs, like they do sometimes; you fight and you shut up and get on with it. You concentrate on your game. The only thing that is important is that the team win. "I am not sure that Arsenal have that attitude. I saw it rarely last season, except when they beat Manchester United 2-1 at home. For the last 20 minutes I saw a real team. But they would win one game, then lose the next two. They need to be consistent."
Petit joins Setanta's commentary team covering the Premiership, and already sounds like a budding Alan Hansen. "You cannot win trophies with youngsters," he echoes. "Arsenal need more experience. The only experience they have is Gilberto, Kolo Toure, Jens Lehmann and William Gallas. As for the others, they are young and without any experience for the big games. There are no leaders. When we won the Double in 1998, how many players were young? There were only two: Nicolas Anelka and Patrick Vieira. And in 2002, the team they called the 'Invincibles', how many young players? Exactly!"
Arsenal need more reinforcements, Petit feels: "I trust Arsene, but if I was an Arsenal fan, a season-ticket holder, I would think, 'What is the club doing? We have lost Thierry, the best scorer in the Premier League for the last five years. What are we doing with our team?'"
Manu Petit is a star analyst for Setanta Sports' coverage of the Barclays Premier League.
