Arshavin speaks

Andrey Arshavin believes Arsenal needs to buy "three or four real stars" before they can realistically challenge for trophies despite the club's lofty position on the Premier League table.

Empics

All for nought? Andrey Arshavin doesn't think his goals will help Arsenal win the title

Whilst most pundits would agree that Arsenal lack the depth of a Manchester United or Chelsea, the outspoken Russian's comments seem to come at a strange time given Arsenal are just two points behind league leaders United and still in contention for the Champions League.

Arshavin said he has thought Arsenal have been understocked since selling Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor in the summer and only bringing in Thomas Vermaelen to replace them. That transfer activity, combined with injuries to Robin van Persie,Kieran Gibbs and Aaron Ramsey, will make it "difficult to achieve success" this season.

Arshavin also claimed that the youngsters rolling off Arsene Wenger's production line must possess stronger mentalities to go with their technical ability.

"I am still of the opinion that to win trophies Arsenal needs more players,'' Arshavin is quoted as saying in the Sun. "There is the simple fact that last summer we sold two players and bought only one. So there is an obvious deficit of at least one. Then we lost Van Persie, Gibbs and Ramsey for a long time. So for me it is natural we need new players.

"Without the variety of players we have less diversity in attack. That allows our opponents to read our combinations more easily. Finally, it results in less ball possession for us and our defence comes under more pressure.

"The Premier League is very interesting, at least as long as we continue fighting to win it. But without new experienced players, real stars, it will be difficult to achieve success. Ideally we need three or four such experienced players and then among our youths there should be guys who are not only good at playing football but have real character.''