Former Arsenal captain Tony Adams insists the club’s failure to hold on to their best players has left them with no chance of winning the Premier League title.

The Gunners’ 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford on Saturday left them nine points behind the table-topping Manchester United.

United’s first goal was scored by Robin van Persie, who left Arsenal in the summer after announcing he would not sign a new deal with the north London club.

His departure followed those of Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy, and Adams told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme: “I never got anywhere near the last year of my contract.

“You don’t let them go into their last year and run their contract down.

“It’s about winning, and how do you win? You have the best players, and if you keep selling your best players you’re not going to win.

“If you sell your best players you’re not going to challenge for titles. You need to keep your best players and in recent years we’ve let them go a bit easy.”

Adams believes Champions League qualification via a top-four finish is the absolute best that Arsene Wenger’s men can hope for. “If Wenger gets them into the top four he’s done brilliantly,” he added.

United manager Alex Ferguson has told his team they must be more clinical. Ferguson felt they should have had much more to show for their near total dominance of Saturday’s match.

Even after Arsenal had Jack Wilshere sent off, United might still have faced a nervy finish had Santi Cazorla’s injury-time consolation come a couple of minutes earlier.

Ferguson said: “I’m disappointed with our inability to hammer home an advantage. I spoke about goal difference to them at the start of the season.

“We lost (the title) on goal difference last season and I don’t want to see that again. We had an opportunity to add to our tally.”