Ian Wright isn't convinced Arsenal can steal fourth spot back from their fierce North London rivals Tottenham.
Mikel Arteta's side had long looked like odds on favourites to secure Champions League football until a recent capitulation has seen them lose to both Crystal Palace and Brighton and subsequently surrender their fourth-placed position to Spurs. Their neighbours have been in fine form of late, with Antonio Conte's men winning four from their last four.
As a result, the Gunners are now fifth - level on points with Spurs and boasting a game in hand. However, though that may not sound like a terrible situation to be in, Arsenal's upcoming run of fixtures will throw up some stern tests for Arteta's men.
The Spaniard's focus will currently be on Saturday's trip to Southampton, but games away at Chelsea and West Ham lie in wait with a home clash against Manchester United wedged in between. All of these come before a gargantuan contest away at Spurs in mid-May.
Many have tipped that North London Derby to be the fixture that determines who gets the much-coveted fourth spot, but Wright feels Arsenal are out of the question when it comes to Champions League qualification.
Speaking on the Arsenal-focused Arseblog podcast, the Gunners legend said: "We are not creating as many chances as we should, we are the lowest goal scorers in the top five.
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"We need goals man, there's no way – when we lose Tomiyasu, Thomas Partey, Kieran Tierney – there's no we can stay in that top four with the players that we have got at the moment without them three in it. They are three of the mainstays in our team and when you are not scoring as well, it’s frustrating watching them."
Wright went on to admit that he has already moved on from the idea of his old side failing to finish fourth and is instead worried that the last two results are the start of a bigger decline. "I can’t stop thinking about what we are going to do, I don’t want us to slip away," Wright added.
"I'm not bothered about fourth because I knew our team – we haven't got the goals in it and we haven’t got the experience in it. "I'm feeling top-six, I don't want us to start dropping and dropping back out into eights as that can have a detrimental effect on such a young squad. Have we got enough firepower to take us there (top four)? It looks like we haven't at the moment."
