Arsene Wenger has admitted his long-time Arsenal skipper Patrick Vieira has the “potential” to replace him in the Gunners' hot-seat.

But the 68-year-old, who has another year left on his latest contract, insisted there will be “plenty of choice” when he does eventually step aside — and he suggested Vieira is not yet ready for the role.

Arsenal are 14 points off fourth place with just five games remaining in the top-flight season, so need to win the Europa League — they play the first leg of a semi-final at home to Atletico Madrid next Thursday — to avoid back-to-back seasons outside the Champions League.

Another campaign of underachievement has seen Vieira, currently manager of Major League Soccer's New York City after a spell in charge of Manchester City's reserves, linkedDehydration or massacre: Thousands caught in ISIS chokehold

Tens of thousands of people are trying to escape militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria

Many of them are Yazidis, who fled into the Sinjar Mountains last week

Members of the religious sect worship an angel figure held by many Muslims to be the devil

Sources say as many as 20,000 have been able to leave the mountains, but many remain

(CNN) -- The Sinjar Mountains rise suddenly from the endless desert of northern Iraq, a ridge of craggy rock some 50 kilometers (30 miles) long, running east to west. Barren and windswept, some 1,400 meters (4,600 feet) high, they make a forbidding sight. But for centuries, they have been the refuge of the desperate and a place of mystical importance.

Last week,