William Gallas, the Arsenal captain, has launched a scathing attack on the club's young players, accusing them of lacking the stomach for a fight.

Gallas's position has been under scrutiny since his bizarre tantrum at Birmingham City in February, when the French defender staged a sit-down protest following the 2-2 draw at St Andrews, a match that marked the beginning of the end for Arsenal's title challenge.

Today, the French defender has attacked the club's highly-prized youngsters, and revealed that infighting has continued to undermine Arsenal's title challenge this season.

"We are not brave enough in battle," Gallas said. "I think we need to be soldiers. We have to be warriors. There are teams who can do it well against us, and we have to be able to face up to these attacks.

"That is how they will forge their character, and how they will get experience. Even though they've played a certain number of matches, they're still young and still learning," Gallas added.

"We have to understand that to be champions, you have to play big matches every weekend and fight," Gallas said. "We are coming up against teams who are not scared to play football against us, who are not scared to take us on at our place, and this is becoming dangerous for Arsenal."

Gallas insists he is not to blame for the failings at the club, adding that he has been forced to break up a number of fights and disagreements, including one that took place at half-time during the 4-4 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.

"There are things that can't be said and can't be tolerated," he said. "When, as captain, some players come up to you and talk to you about a player ... complaining about him ... and then during the match you speak to this player and the player in question insults us," Gallas said. "There comes a time where we can no longer comprehend how this can happen.

"I am trying to defend myself a bit without giving names. Otherwise I'm taking all the blame. It's very frustrating. I'm 31, the player is six years younger than me.

"There was a problem at half-time at Tottenham.The only thing that I could say at half-time was 'Guys, we resolve these problems after the match, not at half-time.'"

Gallas admits the season will be a failure if the club does not win a trophy.

"I have to win something this year. I have to win something, Arsenal has to win something," the player said. "It's four or five years since Arsenal won anything — 2004. That's nearly five years, and that's not good."

Asked if he would leave the club if Arsenal did not win the title, Gallas said: "We will have to see. We don't know what will happen between here and then," he said. "For me the title is not over, it's true that we are nine points behind Chelsea, but you have to be optimistic and you can't give up.

"[Four defeats is] a lot, but it's a long season. I think it will be very tight this year and we will have to hope that Chelsea draw a few games and have a few defeats."