Leaderless Arsenal can't win ugly, says Vieira

The former Gunners captain has dismissed the north London side's title chances on account of a perceived "lack of leadership" within Arsene Wenger's ranks

Patrick Vieira does not believe that former club Arsenal will win the Premier League this season because they cannot "win games playing badly".

The Frenchman, who now coaches Manchester City's Under-21 side, lifted the title three times during his nine-year spell in north London.

Arsenal have not won any silverware since Vieira converted the winning penalty in a shootout against Manchester United in the 2005 FA Cup final, though, and the 37-year-old believes the Gunners still lack the ability to win ugly.

"When you look at Arsenal, they play fantastic football. But sometimes you need to win games playing badly, and I don't think Arsenal are capable of that at the moment," the Frenchman told the Daily Mirror.

"Maybe there is a lack of leadership - they don't have a Tony Adams, Martin Keown or Sol Campbell. These are players who can be leaders on or off the field."

Vieira left Arsenal eight years ago, but felt he could have stayed at the club for a couple more seasons: "I had no idea that Cup final would be my last game - I wasn't thinking about leaving at all.

"The club didn't really fight to keep me or ask me to stay. I was really close to leaving for Real Madrid the year before, the deal was done between the two clubs, but I wanted to finish my career at Arsenal."