Lee Dixon thinks Arsenal should’ve sold Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Özil, in the same way Michael Thomas was sold to Liverpool back in 1991.

Dixon was talking ahead of the release of new film “89”, which is about the Gunners’ 1989 title win. Lee told the Daily Mail that a similar situation to Mesut Özil and Alexis Sanchez’s arose in the past at Arsenal.

“If a player doesn’t want to play for you: it happened with Michael Thomas 18 months after he scored (the title-winning goal against Liverpool) in ’89, he was in dispute with the club or George about money. He ended up going in similar circumstances and signing with Liverpool.

“We’d have just shown them the door. If you don’t want to play, then go. Players work out whether you want to be there or not, and certainly fans do when they see your performances on the pitch.”

Aside from a brief revival against Everton at Goodison Park, Arsenal fans haven’t been convinced that Alexis or Özil are up for a top-four challenge this season, let alone a run at the title.

That game at Goodison is the only Premier League match either player has scored in, a big change from last season when they were both in the top-four for goals at Arsenal.

This season, Eddie Nketiah has as many or more goals than either of them in all competitions, and he’s played less than an hour of senior football in his career.

The performance against Manchester City was certainly their worst and not exactly indicative of the rest of the season so far, but it’s still a problem that they’re both playing in the front three and not scoring.

The match against Spurs is the perfect opportunity to set the doubters straight, or fuel the fire even further.