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Arsenal legends Paul Merson and Alan Smith have piled the pressure on Arsene Wenger , branding the Gunners manager “arrogant” and “institutionalised.”

With the fan base divided over Wenger being offered a new two-year contract, despite 13 years without winning the title, Merson and Smith are among ex-Arsenal players who now openly favour a change of regime.

The Gunners are 18 points behind leaders Chelsea, Wenger’s players could barely bring themselves to celebrate the goals in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City, and their supporters are fighting among themselves.

Merson, who won two titles with Arsenal under then-manager George Graham, raged over the way Wenger has allowed contract business to be conducted.

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He said: “There is an arrogance about Arsenal over how this could happen. You’ve got eight players out of contact and the two best players by a million miles (Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil) could soon be out of contract.

“It drives me up the wall because you have now got fans fighting each other. Are the board worried about that? I don’t think there is anyone thinking, ‘We have to stop this’.

“They will look at that and go, ‘Let them fight — and if they don’t come back next year there is a long waiting list for season tickets.’ And even if people don’t turn up, they still get their £75 a ticket.”

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Fellow Sky Sports pundit Smith said: “I think Arsene’s time at the club has reached its natural ending – some of the players have spent a long time listening to the same voice and I think it has become stale.

“Arsenal has become his life – he gets up at six, he’s at the training ground by 8am, he goes home at 6pm, watches football and then comes back the next day and does it all over again.

“He’s almost become institutionalised in the Arsenal life, and what happens on the inside of the club, but that’s not a basis on which to make a decision.

(Image: Getty) (Image: Arsenal FC/Getty)

“But if there’s an offer of a contract there, he’s probably thinking, ‘Why shouldn’t I sign it?’

“If the club have offered him a new one, they must have been happy with the job he’s been doing. They must be happy with the status quo – here you go, Arsene, have another two years. But from afar, their relative lack of success on the pitch is different to the board’s view of things.”

* Sky Sports will show the biggest games on the Premier League run-in, including Tottenham v Arsenal on April 30, the Manchester derby and Manchester United v Chelsea.