Former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino claimed Arsenal would be in a much better place if Sam Allardyce was in charge of the club rather than Mikel Arteta.

Arsenal have had a woeful start to the season, having lost their opening three games without scoring a goal and are bottom in the league table.

The pressure is now firmly on Arteta to deliver – especially as they are the top-flight’s biggest spenders with around £156million worth of arrivals bought in the summer window.

And Cascarino, who played for Chelsea from 1992 to 1994, reckons Arsenal would be in a much better state of affairs if Allardyce was in charge.

“If you look at what he did to West Brom – I know they went down – but he certainly made them far better defensively,” Cascarino told talkSPORT.

“He’d make Arsenal way better.

“I know some Arsenal fans don’t care about that, they want their teams to have flair, but I think Sam would undoubtedly do a better job than Arteta is doing at the moment.”

Technical director Edu has defended the club’s transfer policy following fierce criticism and a poor start to the season.

Six players have been brought in since the end of last season but only Martin Odegaard and Ben White could be considered ready for immediate or regular first-team action.

The rest have been signed with an eye on the future or to improve the depth of Mikel Arteta’s squad.