Arsenal's players seem resigned to the fact they are useless according to ex-Tottenham chairman Lord Sugar who believes Danny Rose should have been 'dismissed' over his August outburst

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Former Tottenham chairman Lord Sugar has stoked the fire ahead of Saturday's London derby by suggesting that Arsenal's players are useless... and they know it.

Arsenal will start the weekend sixth in the Premier League table, four points behind Spurs, who appear to have shifted the balance of power in north London.

Talking on BBC Sport's Premier League Show, Sugar spoke admiringly about Arsene Wenger, but hinted that the Gunners manager must have a tough job motivating a group who appear to have accepted that they are no longer a top team.

Lord Sugar has suggested that Arsenal's players seem resigned to the fact they are useless

The Gunners are sixth in the Premier League after losing at Manchester City in their last game

'I've been a great fan of Arsene Wenger for years,' said Sugar. 'He's had them in the Champions League for 20-odd years. I don't think anybody else has ever achieved that.

'I think there's a kind of precipitation down to the players – what I would call adverse publicity… external influences from the media, uncertainty of contracts of some of the players, uncertainty of whether Arsene is really going to hack it anymore.

'And that does get down to the pitch. It is really reminiscent of my days at Spurs, where the players were kind of resigned to the fact that we were useless, because the media were saying we were useless.'

Sugar owned Spurs between 1991 and 2001, during which time the club failed to finish higher than seventh in the League.

If Sugar was still in charge of Spurs, there's a good chance Danny Rose would have left the club last summer.

Rose landed himself in hot water in August when he complained to a newspaper about Tottenham's transfer policy, wage structure and lack of trophies.

Sugar said: 'If you go back to the great Sir Alex Ferguson, if he had a player like Danny Rose make a statement like he did in the media, he would have been dead meat, gone.'

Sugar (next to Jermaine Jenas on BBC Two's Premier League Show) used to be Spurs chairman

The former owner believes that Tottenham should have 'dismissed' Danny Rose back in August

Ex-Spurs midfielder Jermaine Jenas, a fellow guest on the BBC show, retorted: 'What he spoke was the truth.

'Yes, he shouldn't have said it and he shouldn't have done it in the way that he did. And I can understand why at the top end of a football club you would just say "listen, get out mate, that's not how we go on."

'But the only problem with that is at Manchester United, when you're dead and finished and kicked out the door, inevitably you go down. When you're at Tottenham and you're Danny Rose and you get kicked out the door, you go up. He'll go to Man City, or PSG… He can go to all of these places.'

Sugar replied: 'Not now, Jermaine, because we are a contender now. We came second last year. We are a big club now. We really are a big club.' 

Jenas claimed that Rose would likely move 'up' to a bigger club were he to leave Tottenham

However, a defiant Sugar responded: 'Not now, Jermaine, because we are a contender now'

It was then put to Sugar that Spurs would have lost £20m off Rose's transfer value had they have told him he was no longer wanted.

Unfazed, Suger continued: 'Yeah, but you only have to do it once to make a statement and to show "don't mess with me."

'He should have been dismissed immediately. And then he made some pathetic apology afterwards.'

Rose has only made one Premier League appearance so far this season after being kept out by a knee injury.

But he featured in both England games during the international break and is in contention to start at the Emirates on Saturday.