Villarreal veteran Robert Pires fears injuries could scupper former club Arsenal's title chances.

Kieran Gibbs, Robin van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner have all broken down in the past week.

But former France star Pires, 36, said: "The injuries always seem to have damaged Arsenal in the last few seasons and now again this is the difficult time between November and December.

"Teams that suffer a lot of problems during these months often miss out on winning the league. You play a lot of games, it's difficult and it tests the squad.

"But for me, this is a big chance for players like Theo Walcott and Andrey Arshavin to be even more important and help Arsenal maintain their strong start.

"Arshavin is playing so well and the speed of Walcott can damage and hurt a lot of opponents.

"Arsene Wenger always has a strategy and ideas to overcome problems in the squad and missing players.

"Now Arsenal are missing some big players but I believe the club can still have a good season even though they will be without some attacking players."