Arsenal are out of the title race, says United's Rio Ferdinand

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The Manchester United defender believes the eight-point gap between League leaders Liverpool and Arsenal will prove too wide and he is convinced the champions, Liverpool and Chelsea will now surge clear.

Speaking ahead of Thursday's Club World Cup encounter with Gamba Osaka in Yokohama, Ferdinand said: "It is not beyond Arsenal but it is my personal opinion that it will be between the other three this season.

"At the moment it looks like being nip and tuck but usually from Christmas onwards the teams who are going to be there at the end start pulling away.

"I can see that happening this season. I presume ourselves, Chelsea and Liverpool will pull away, then it will be down to two and finally one."

Arsene Wenger has a great record against the other big teams this season - having already beaten Chelsea and United - and he knows that Arsenal must beat Liverpool at Emirates Stadium on Sunday if Ferdinand is to be ultimately proved wrong.

But the Gunners' boss has today expressed new reservations about Gallas - the player he stripped of the captaincy - and Nasri, his last major signing.

He said: "On the human level, what happened with William was the most difficult thing I have had to handle in my career because I have a lot of esteem for him.

"He was caught in a media storm, a witchhunt that isolated him to the point where it became a handicap for the team. He has refound the stability in his game but I am not convinced that, in his mind, he has refound his stability and his joie de vivre."

Nasri, who signed from Marseille for £12.7million in the summer and scored twice in the win over United, has been out for the past two weeks with an ankle injury.

"I thought Nasri had the qualities to be, say, a mixture between (Robert) Pires and (Alexander) Hleb. The dribbling of Hleb and the passing, vision and finishing of Pires," Wenger told France football.

"His contribution? He has had too many injuries, far too many. It's perhaps down to the fact he played sooner than I would have liked without being sufficiently ready for the Premier League."