ARSENE WENGER blasted his players after their miserable 3-1 defeat by Manchester United at Emirates Stadium yesterday.

The loss sees the Gunners lose valuable ground in the title race, with the gap between themselves and leaders Chelsea now standing at five points, while the Blues also have a game in hand.

An own goal by goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, who flapped a Nani cross into his own net, was followed swiftly by a deadly counter-attack by the defending champions, with Wayne Rooney adding the finishing touch, sweeping the ball past the Spaniard for his 100th Premier League goal.

Ji-Sung Park made it three shortly after the interval, galloping unchallenged from the halfway line before steering the ball between Almunia and the near post. Thomas Vermaelen briefly rekindled Arsenal's hopes of a comeback ten minutes from time but his deflected effort from the edge of the box proved to be nothing more than a consolation.

Wenger accepted his side now have a mountain to climb if they are to win their first Premier League crown in six years, while he pulled no punches in his assessment of his players' performance.

“It is difficult to take but easy to explain because we were poor offensively and defensively cohesion-wise,” said the Frenchman. “We delivered an off-the-mark performance completely and that is why we were well beaten today. We gave them always too much room, we were naive. I believe we have to stick together now, recover and produce a much better performance next Sunday [against Chelsea].”

That game at Stamford Bridge is now a must-win for the Gunners if they are to drag themselves back into the race for the title.

“It (the defeat) is a massive blow and a massive disappointment. But we have to recover from that, that is part of top-level football,” added Wenger. “We have to focus on delivering a completely different performance because today we were never close in our marking and you do not win big games like that.

“We need something special now to stay in the race, of course. I am conscious of that.”