ESPN pundit Craig Burley has unleashed a stinging attack on Arsenal fans' willingness to settle for "mediocrity" every season, after the Gunners fell 12 points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea with defeat at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Burley, who represented Chelsea, Celtic and Derby County in his career, has advocated greater fan agitation to remove Arsene Wenger as manager and to end an era of "stale" football at Arsenal, who haven't won a league title in 13 years.

Speaking on an ESPN broadcast in the United States, Burley said: "I'm telling you, Arsenal fans: you are spineless. You are the mirror image of your team: weak, mentally weak.

"They follow their club across Europe and up and down the country in England, and they accept the mediocrity - and it is mediocrity, by a club of that standard, getting in the top four.

"They keep using the Champions League as some barometer for their success but every year up until now - apart from the time they got to the final in Paris [in 2006] - they've been knocked out in the round of 16. Every time. What's the point?