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Ian Wright believes Newcastle United’s recent form is down to nothing more than a lack of quality in the team.

Defeat to Arsenal saw the Magpies drop into the relegation zone after a run of nine games without a win.

And while against the Gunners Rafa Benitez’s side did show some fight in a narrow 1-0 defeat sealed only by a wonderful solo effort from Mezut Ozil, former Arsenal striker Wright believes Newcastle’s lack of quality was evident.

He told Match of the Day: “It’s a quality issue. You can see they just haven’t got the quality.

“In the Arsenal game they could have maybe nicked something because Arsenal didn’t finish the game off, but there just wasn’t a lot of options for them.

“The strikers were feeding off nothing because they were poor in possession. I don’t think they put together more than three or four passes all game.”

Benitez does hope to have funds to spend in next month’s transfer window.

(Image: PA)

While owner Mike Ashley and Amanda Staveley continue to negotiate the sale of the club, the hope is that Staveley will subsidise some kind of budget for the Spaniard prior to a deal being complete.

That would allow Benitez to address the lack of quality in the team, although it should be noted that January is a notoriously difficult window to work in.