Wenger confident of bouncing back against Bournemouth

Arsene Wenger’s side came into the match after a 2-1 win against Premier League title rivals Manchester City, but a woeful defensive display resulted in a resounding defeat at St Mary’s Stadium.

In the build-up to the Southampton match Arsene Wenger described last seasons defeat at Southampton, in which the team capitulated weakly and our then first choice goalkeeper played his last league game for us, as a turning point.

Arsenal appeared to be runaway title favourites after beating Manchester City six days ago, but their Boxing Day mauling at the hands of Southampton highlighted that they are still missing one key thing: a defensive midfielder. Wenger had complained about an offside in the buildup to the first goal, a foul by Shane Long before the second and an erroneously awarded corner on the third. If you are a bit under level and on top of that you have the first three goals against you with decision-making, it is even more hard.

“I think it’s true that we couldn’t score, but we conceded goals (against Southampton) and we have enough defenders”.

Wenger certainly will not be taking Bournemouth lightly and praised the promoted side ahead of a match which could see the Gunners belatedly reach the Premier League summit. Have your say in the comments section below.

“Today was a very physical game and we didn’t play well enough”.

“That’s always the question you get”, he said. “They were sharper than us”, Wenger told BT Sport.

He said: “We are in a job where you have to respond”.

“If we had lost it would have been heads down, but this performance will give us a lot of confidence and belief to go to West Ham and cause them problems”.

“We are a club which has always given a chance to players we have educated”. We had Giroud, but we also had Theo Walcott who I believe is a world-class striker, we had Alexis Sanchez who is a world-class striker, and we had Danny Welbeck who is a world-class striker. The only real surprise for me is that our German centre back Per Mertesacker keeps his place after a shocking show against the Saints, while Nacho Monreal who was one of our best players is dropped. I think the players have a good mentality, a strong spirit and they will respond on Monday.

“In my opinion yes (it risks injuries), because players like Arsenal, like Chelsea, playing Champions League, playing for global games, everybody is having a holiday now”.