Former Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit has criticised his former club by saying that they are "not killers", ahead of their Champions League tie with Monaco tomorrow.

Petit played for Arsenal under current manager Arsene Wenger between 1997-2000, and he believes that he and his former teammates knew how to win big matches better than Wenger's current stars.

He told the Mirror: "You have to remember the defence that we had. You could rely on [David] Seaman, [Tony] Adams, [Martin] Keown, etc. We knew how to travel. When we had to play, we knew how to do that too.

"I remember one away game at Wimbledon where Tony Adams came to say to me: 'Today, Manu, forget the football. It's war'. We knew how to adapt because we only wanted one thing: to win.

"Let's say that the Barcelona of keeping the ball has overtaken that style. But today, you have to be more direct and pragmatic. You see that with Germany or Real Madrid. Arsenal have very pretty players but there are not 'killers' in this team. At that time, we were tough, we did not play to look good."

Arsenal host Monaco at the Emirates Stadium in the first leg of their last-16 tie.