QPR skipper Joey Barton says he has sympathy for Arsenal's struggles.

He laments the fact their chances of qualifying for next season's Champions League took another blow when Bacary Sagna was ruled out until the new year with a broken leg sustained in last week's defeat to Tottenham.

"I watched them the other day," he told the Sunday Mirror. "It's a very different side from that great team they had with Petit and Vieira.

"If I was an Arsenal fan... well. But it's nothing to do with me because it's not my football club - but, even so, I like to see those great English sides do well. I remember watching the Champions League and Arsenal against Olympiakos at home was a shoo-in, four or five-nil win for Arsenal. But they made hard work of it the other night.

"But this is the game we're in."