Former Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri has defended under-fire Gunners manager Arsene Wenger, saying the club's lack of success in recent years has been the fault of the players.
With Wenger having failed to deliver a Premier League title since 2004 and having been unable to reach the last eight of the Champions League since 2010, many Arsenal fans have been calling for him to leave the club at the end of the season when his contract expires.
But Nasri, who spent three years playing under Wenger at Arsenal between 2008 and 2011, feels criticism should be aimed at the Gunners squad rather than at the manager.
"You cannot criticise a guy like that, it is impossible. Arsenal was a big club but he made it even bigger," Nasri, currently on a season-long loan at Sevilla from Manchester City, told Sky Sports.
"People need to be fair. It is not because Arsenal don't have success in the league that it's his fault, that is the players who are on the pitch, it's the players who do not get the results.
"It's hard for me to say something about him because I owe him a lot of things. I came to the Premier League because of him and I have had a good career because of him too.
"He gave me confidence and he made me a better player and I just think all the players who played with him, when they left they became better players.
"I don't think it's him, there are a lot of things at Arsenal; the players, the board, that need to be checked out and not just Arsene."