Arsene Wenger: “Arsenal will not panic buy”

“I was at Tottenham for a while, but they did not want me, and I went to West Ham, which was the best option for me”, said Oxford, who is scheduled to receive his GCSE results next week. I was a striker back then.

“We have a lot of players in attack who can cause problems for other teams”.

West Ham’s win echoed Aston Villa’s 3-1 success at the Emirates on the first day of the 2013-14 campaign and enabled Slaven Bilic to crown his first league game as manager with a famous victory.

But West Ham, knocked out of the Europa League in the third qualifying round by Romanian side Astra Giurgiu on Thursday, snatched the lead in the 43rd minute when Kouyate made the most of Cech’s error of judgement.

When it was put to him that Cech had been signed to stop this sort of mistake, Wenger said: “It’s not only him“.

Arsenal failed to win four of their opening six games last season and the 30-year-old centre-back believes Arsenal cannot afford another upset in their next game, when they visit Crystal Palace on Sunday.

First, Cech came off his line looking to punch an in-swinging Dimitri Payet free-kick, which Cheikhou Kouyate headed towards an empty goal.

“We gave ourselves a mountain to climb”. “But after a defeat like that, it’s important not always to think we take a solution from outside”.

Wenger also said that signings were not necessarily the answer. “I think we are capable of coming back”, Mertesacker added.

Manager Arsene Wenger would never admit to his side being a bit complacent against the Hammers but they did invite a great deal of pressure onto themselves against a team that looked sharp and determined to have an impact.

“I wanted to go through, but I tried to see the bigger picture”.

There may not be a more competitive player on the Arsenal XI than Alexis Sanchez. We talked the night before but it wasn’t like, “let’s sit in a dark room, I have to tell you something Reece, you’re going to play“.

The start of this season was far below the Welshman’s par; derided for trying too hard at times, misplacing crucial passes, attempting low percentage skill moves instead of simple, collected passes.