West Brom 2-1 Arsenal
Aaron Ramsey, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck, Jack Wilshere, and Tomas Rosicky are also on the treatment table, making it a total of eight players unavailable for the clash. Mathieu Flamini is likely to start in midfield, and the Frenchman was already looking ahead to the must-win Champions League encounter against Dinamo Zagreb.
Wenger told Sky Sports: “I believe we never deserved to lose this game”.
Wenger’s side are on brink of a stunning failure to make the knockout stages for the first time in 16 years after three defeats from their four Group F fixtures.
Arsenal were awarded a chance to find a late equaliser when Brunt brought Sanchez down in his own penalty box.
Arsenal were enveloped in a ideal storm at West Brom and it could yet sink their season and Arsene Wenger’s treasure quest.
“But overall I felt it dropped a huge blow when we scored and we just had to make sure they didn’t come back with a easy goal and that is where we were disappointed today”.
“We lost a bit of focus at 1-0”.
Arsene Wenger’s men did grab the lead on the half-hour mark from another set piece as Mesut Ozil sent in a superb cross for Giroud and the striker lost his marker before heading home from close range.
“Our defending at that level was very, very poor”.
The botched penalty pretty much summed up Arsenal‘s day as injuries to Francis Coquelin and Arteta compounded further misery on the North Londoners in a game that won’t be looked back on with fond memories. Arsenal are still not aware as to the extent of Coquelin’s injury, but have confirmed that Arteta is suffering from a calf problem.
As it turned out, Clattenburg had penalised the midfielder for taking two touches as he slipped; with the rules not allowing a penalty taker to touch the ball again until another player has done so.
He said: “Some say there needs to be a balance between results and entertainment but for the players it’s 100 per cent about the results. We produced enough to win the game”.
“I have seen a few but I don’t really know what happened”.
While a heavy defeat at Bayern in their last European outing could be excused given the quality of the opposition, there was no explaining away lacklustre losses against Dinamo and Olympiakos. I think it’s sad. We are all down.
The Gunners took the lead against West Bromwich Albion, but fell behind after a James Morrison effort and a Mikel Arteta own goal.
With those injuries in mind, Wenger may be forced to rush Wales midfielder Ramsey back into the team after his hamstring problem.
Arsenal had a staggering 80% of the possession in the second half, but all their territorial dominance proved meaningless as they failed to break down a stubborn Baggies defence.
Arsenal first threatened in the 14th minute when Alexis Sanchez curled a free-kick over the wall, but Boaz Myhill was equal to the task and made a comfortable save.
“So, to conclude, Arsenal play better against teams like Bayern Munich than against teams like Olympiacos, who play defensively and who don’t allow you space and catch you on the counter-attack”.