Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has rubbished claims the team has gone backwards in recent years.

The Gunners meet QPR today.

Wenger said: "I don't think that we have gone backwards in the quality of our squad because if you look at the five players that we bought, you cannot say that one of the five players is a failure.

"I can't deny that we are behind much more than last year because we had a depleted squad since the start of the season, and no stability, and the fact that we got so many important injuries at the back cost us too much.

"We lost Debuchy and (Laurent) Koscielny at the same period for three months. It's too much."