Lowly Gunners need lift, admits Wenger

Manager Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal are not “fragile” but accepts the players are in need of a lift ahead of today’s visit of Premier League strugglers QPR.

It has been a testing spell for the Gunners since the international break, with successive lacklustre defeats at Norwich and then at home to Schalke in the Champions League setting up a heated annual general meeting at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday, where chairman Peter Hill-Wood, chief executive Ivan Gazidis and majority shareholder Stan Kroenke were all heckled.

Wenger used his address to call for a sense of perspective of what the club have achieved up against the limitless spending power of their rivals. The Arsenal manager later told reporters there was no question over the character of his squad, just that they perhaps needed some reassurances, with defender Per Mertesacker admitting confidence had dipped.