Andrey Arshavin fears Arsenal may lack the strength in depth required to compete for major trophies.

Gunners ace fears Wenger's men may fall short

Variety

Andrey Arshavin fears Arsenal may lack the strength in depth required to compete for major trophies. The Gunners are hoping to complete a domestic and European double this season, with their campaign still promising much. They sit second in the Premier League table, two points behind leaders Manchester United, and have reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League. However, Arsene Wenger's resources have been pushed to their limit at times this season, with unfortunate injuries taking their toll. A lack of transfer activity, last summer and in January, has left them thin on the ground and Arshavin admits that frugal approach could prove costly."I am still of the opinion that to win trophies Arsenal needs more players," the Russian forward is quoted as saying in. "There is the simple fact that last summer we sold two players and bought only one. So there is an obvious deficit of at least one. Then we lost (Robin) Van Persie, (Kieran) Gibbs and (Aaron) Ramsey for a long time. So for me it is natural we need new players. "Without the variety of players we have less diversity in attack. That allows our opponents to read our combinations more easily. Finally, it results in less ball possession for us and our defence comes under more pressure. "The Premier League is very interesting, at least as long as we continue fighting to win it. But without new experienced players, real stars, it will be difficult to achieve success. "Ideally we need three or four such experienced players and then among our youths there should be guys who are not only good at playing football but have real character."