Patrick Viera has told Mikel Arteta that Arsenal must build their team around "personality and competitiveness" after the Gunners suffered a damaging 3-0 defeat against Brighton on Sunday.
Julio Enciso, Denis Undav and Pervis Estupinan scored for the Seagulls as Arsenal's title bid took a massive dent, handing Manchester City the chance to win it next weekend. Pep Guardiola's side require one win from their remaining three matches and face Chelsea, Brighton and Brentford before the end of the season.
With the Gunners' title push all but over, focus may now be already on the summer transfer window as Arteta tries to bolster his squad ahead of the Champions League next season. Arsenal will return to Europe's elite club competition for the first time in six years and are set finish second in the Premier League.
Speaking about what Arsenal need this summer, Viera told Sky Sports: "You're looking for leadership and at the time he was the technical leader on the field, I would say. He had responsibility, but what they are missing is this physical presence. This kind of leadership where people can get at the back of players when they are not performing at the level that Arsenal expect.
"For me, they will have to build a team with more personality and more competitiveness. I think the Arsenal team, there is quality, there is no doubt about it. They are playing some really good football, but there is still a difference between them and Manchester City.
"When you look at Manchester City you look at the physical attributes of the players, the physicality. They are six foot three or six foot four, so it's important for Arsenal and Mikel [Arteta] to identify what they are missing and try to improve that side of the game."
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Vieira added: ""There's a couple of pieces they're missing to be a bit more closer to Man City. When you're looking at the back they need a couple of pieces - a centre-back and a right-back.
"In the midfield, they need more physicality and up front it's important to have players capable of scoring goals. If they manage to bring those three to four players in the starting XI then they will be a step closer to Manchester City."
Arsenal's title bid came to an abrupt end against Brighton and the result leaves them four points behind City having played a game more. Roy Keane delivered his verdict on the Gunners' recent collapse, which has seen them pick up just nine points from a possible 21.
Keane said: "When you look at some of the games over the last five or six weeks - particularly West Ham and Southampton stand out for me - I know they dropped points losing at City, they had Liverpool - which can happen, you can’t win every game. They’ve won 25 league games which is fantastic, but the points they lost against West Ham and Southampton definitely knocked them back a little bit.
"We saw a team today that I think was physically and mentally shot, it really was. There wasn’t enough effort there and as soon as Brighton started flexing their muscles, passing and moving, looking really sharp, they looked quicker, sharper.
"We’d been saying it for a few months, if they had injuries, they’d struggle, and I think the bottom line is they certainly didn’t have the strength in depth of Man City or the experience and better quality in terms of their squad. They’ve just come up short and it’s as simple as that. They’ll need players - four or five players - but that’s easy to roll up your tongue and say a team needs players."
