Arsene Wenger rues ‘very bad afternoon’ for Arsenal

The Gunners took the lead against West Bromwich Albion, but fell behind after a James Morrison effort and a Mikel Arteta own goal.

“The penalty – it can happen – and there is nothing you can do about Santi falling”, Flamini said.

West Brom skipper Darren Fletcher has hailed his side’s character in their 2-1 win over title contenders Arsenal on Saturday.

Naturally, strengthening the ranks in the January transfer window would represent a way to get around these injuries but we know Arsene Wenger treats his returning players “like new signings”!

After defeat at West Brom, former Arsenal striker Paul Mariner says the Gunners’ lack of squad depth is hurting them.

“At 1-0 we had just to make sure they did not come back with an easy goal and that’s where we were guilty, because apart from that I cannot fault the team who gave what they could until the last minute”, he added. Then in the 28th minute Mesut Ozil hit a free kick that deflected off the head of Olivier Giroud and found it’s way past the keeper to give Arsenal a 1-0 lead.

West Brom manager Tony Pulis, whose side drew level through James Morrison before Arteta’s own goal, acknowledged that his players had gained victory despite not being at their best. Our focus was not 100 per cent then.

Wenger said he did not know the extent of the injuries to Arteta and Coquelin, saying the former suffered a recurrence of a muscular problem while Coquelin will undergo a scan tomorrow on the knee he damaged in a tackle on Claudio Yacob.

Yet Arsenal’s have been particularly damaging: Rosicky, Welbeck and Wilshere are yet to play a game this season while Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott have been ruled out for a collective 14 games and 90 days.

Wenger refused to blame Cazorla for his missed penalty, which came amid confusion, as it seemed referee Mark Clattenburg had ordered a retake for encroachment. Another game and another couple of players were taken off due to injury while not many would fret about Mikel Arteta getting injured, the sight of Francis Coquelin hobbling off will worry most Arsenal fans.

“There’s been games here this year where we’ve been disappointed because we’ve lost”, he said.