Keane: Gunners too weak for title

Sunderland boss Roy Keane has written off the Gunners' chances of wresting the Premier League title from his former club Manchester United.

The Sunderland manager almost engineered a famous victory against Arsene Wenger's struggling side on Saturday, only for Cesc Fabregas to rob the Irishman of his glory with a late header.

And with Arsenal far from at their best against the spirited Black Cats, Keane is certain the title will be won by either United or Chelsea this season.

"Of course they can challenge," he said. "If Arsenal can't challenge what hope have we got? There are four teams we know which will finish in the top four. But will Arsenal finish first? I don't think so. I think Chelsea and United are stronger — that's my opinion."

Keane hinted that the lack of a physical edge will count against the Emirates club come May.

"Every team has its different characters and different dynamics," he added. "Arsenal are still a good team but different to the one I played against. There were different characters back then.

"These days there is no [Martin] Keown, [Tony] Adams or [Patrick] Vieira. You need certain characters in your team."

Fabregas prevented a second successive League defeat for Arsenal for the first time since April 2007.

Had Arsenal lost at the Stadium of Light a crisis of confidence may well have deepened but Wenger said: "We need to win every game but I think against Sunderland and against Hull we have been a bit unlucky. Every shot on goal against us at the moment seems to go in. There's nothing we can do about that.

"We have to get over a period like that, but I still believe that we have enough quality to win against the top teams."