West Ham midfielder Jack Wilshere admits departing players dropped expectations at Arsenal.

The Gunners notoriously allowed Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and Samir Nasri leave the club in the space of two summers.

Asked whether Fabregas' exit impacted the dressing room, Wilshere told The Lockdown Tactics podcast: "Yeah it did. The big players like Robin and Nasri were asking the question like 'why is he going?' We think we're supposed to be challenging for the Premier League.

"Why is our best player and our captain leaving? Then you see obviously Nasri went to City and I got on really well with Samir and I remember having a conversation with him and he was saying what City are building, it's hard not to want to be a part of that.

'I could understand where he was coming from but at the same time it hurt because he was so good for us.

"He was going to be one of the reasons why we'd improve and start challenging. I'd always think back to that first season and when we came so close and thinking what would've happened.

"Would Cesc have stayed, attracted bigger players challenged in the Champions League? But year after year players left.

"I saw it over when I first started to the expectation dropping even from then.

"From the first season challenging for the Premier League to then challenging for the top four was what we were going for."