QPR midfielder Joey Barton has branded Arsenal's anti-Wenger fans as "despicable". Gunners boss Arsene Wenger was given both barrels by disgruntled supporters this season and was even verbally abused at a train station following Arsenal's 3-2 defeat at Stoke earlier this month.

"Some of the abuse he's got is totally uncalled for," said Barton.

"He's a 60-odd-year-old man who loves football and has done incredible things for that club over a long period of time.

"He swims against the tide a little bit and for someone to subject him to the abuse that he's subjected to on a train platform, for me, that's despicable.

"As a football man I think he deserves a lot more respect than that, Arsene should be the master of his own destiny and he might step upstairs at some point."