Wenger: Under pressure

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Wenger at his “lowest point”

Former Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit admits that Arsene Wenger is at a low point in his career but has backed the Frenchman to turn Arsenal’s fortunes around.

Petit spent three seasons under the tutelage of Wenger while at Arsenal in the late 1990’s, a period in which the Gunners lifted the league title and the FA Cup.

While Wenger has gone on to claim a further two league titles and three FA Cups, Arsenal have not won any silverware since 2005 and look set to miss out once again this season.

The North London outfit are currently hanging by a thread in Europe after suffering a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of AC Milan in the first leg of their last 16 tie. Matters aren’t much better in the league, with the Gunners tied in fourth spot with Chelsea, 17 points behind leaders Manchester City.

To make matters worse, many Arsenal fans have turned against Wenger and some players appear to have lost belief in the team.

Petit concedes that this may be the worst point in Wenger’s career but maintains that he is still the man to lead Arsenal out of the current quagmire.

“This is the worst moment of Arsene’s career with Arsenal and one of their worst moments in the last decade,” he told BBC Sport.

“[Letting Wenger leave] would be the biggest mistake,” he added.

“Arsene is still the solution. The players have to look in the mirror, be honest and ask questions of themselves.

“They are playing like they don’t know what’s going on, they don’t know what to do on the pitch. Mentally, they are very weak.”

Petit believes that Arsenal’s bad run can be traced back to last year’s Carling Cup final loss to Birmingham and believes Wenger will need to change his tactics to get back on track.

“Birmingham was the crucial point,” explained the former Barcelona man.

“From then on, the players started to lose confidence in the policy at Arsenal.

“Arsene built success based on experienced players and big characters. All of a sudden he decided to completely change it, put confidence in young players.

“For five years they were close to winning something. But they didn’t and that’s why they have to change the policy.

“They have to bring in more experience and big characters. They need leaders. But you cannot sign big players if you are not in the Champions League.”