SMALL GUNNERS ARE IN BIG TROUBLE

Football at the highest level is completely cold, ruthless and unforgiving.

If there's a chink in your armour, it will be exposed. If you show an ounce of weakness, you'll be battered.

And that's why I believe this Arsenal side will struggle to ever lift one of the major prizes.

For all their sweet passing, their wonderful technique, their determination to stick to Arsene Wenger's belief in the beautiful game, Arsenal have one fatal flaw.

They are weak.

Weak physically when it comes to the biggest games, those matches that decide a season.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing last weekend at the Emirates. I thought being humiliated by Chelsea on their own patch in November would have seen Arsenal dig deep, determined never to let that happen again.

But Manchester United didn't just run circles round them, they stomped them into the ground as Andrey Arshavin and Co were repeatedly man-handled by the likes of Wes Brown (above left). It really wasn't a contest. How could it be when United were so physically dominant?

When Wenger built the Invincibles, they intimidated opponents to such an extent that many of their matches were won in the tunnel.

Think back to that team - Henry, Keown, Campbell, Vieira, Bergkamp, Lauren - they were all fantastic and strong athletes.

Even Robert Pires, who didn't exactly put himself about, was a six-footer who couldn't be brushed off the ball easily.

If you wanted to take them on football- wise, they'd tear you apart.

If you wanted a battle, well, there weren't many people who came off best against them in that department.

It's been a trait of every successful Arsenal side over the years and Wenger's reliance on great athletes who could play the way he demanded set the trend for other clubs who wanted to literally muscle in on their success.

Fergie and Jose Mourinho realised they had to find an answer to Arsenal's dominance and find players who matched their physical strength.

You only have to look at United and Chelsea to see how great sides have evolved. Arsenal? It seems to me Wenger has decided to show the world he can do it differently and deliberately gone the other way.

DENILSON: Crunched by Heskey

Now his side team is dominated by 'trinket' players, all standing about 5ft 8in with wonderful skill and technique, who can pass the ball all day long and dance through the likes of Bolton but are steamrollered by the very best.

Don't get me wrong, I love watching Cesc Fabregas, Arshavin and the rest but it's exhibition football; there's nothing to fall back on when the pretty stuff falls short.

How can you expect somebody like Denilson to dig in for you when the tide's turning and Emile Heskey keeps clattering him. How are they going to compete with a Ballack or Lampard physically?

Even in defence, Wenger seems to have ignored the obvious. Thomas Vermaelen has been a great buy but he's not the biggest and certainly not the most dominating centre-half I've seen. Same goes for William Gallas.

If you were Didier Drogba this morning, you'd be thinking back to Chelsea's win at the Emirates and relishing the chance to run riot again because, frankly, who's going to stop him?

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