Monday 5 March 2018 12:46, UK
Arsenal's recent miserable run is due to a lack of dressing room authority and men within the side who are able to lead, believes Dennis Wise.
Back-to-back defeats to Manchester City, in the Carabao Cup final and Premier League respectively, were followed up on Sunday by a loss to Brighton and Hove Albion.
Arsene Wenger's side remain in sixth place as a result, though are now 13 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham in the final Champions League spot.
Criticism has rained down on the Gunners along with Wenger, and Wise believes the root of the issue is the personnel within the dressing room and the lack of certain characteristics.
"There are people walking about and not doing their jobs, doing what they feel they should do instead of being in a position where they'll get pulled off if you're not doing the job you're wanted to do," Wise told Premier League Daily.
"Look at their team and the position that they're in, I think defensively they struggle, I think they haven't got too many leaders and I don't think they have men at the moment that can get a grip of the group and bring it all together.
"You look at the position they're in, sixth in the league, they've got AC Milan in the Europa League and that's their only option of getting into the Champions League, it's going to be a difficult game."
The former Chelsea captain did, however, outline his view that Wenger should be allowed to see out the campaign and get the job done, despite the recent poor run of results and deteriorating form.
"I think you've got to allow Arsene to finish off what he needs to do, allow him to get on with what he's got to do until the end of the season and if they get knocked out of the Europa League by AC Milan - they're not going to get into the Champions League - so I feel [then] it's time they should be considering bringing someone else in."
