“We are very pleased but we have played better and done better and not got the result”.
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“You think of the Tottenham game when [Santi] Cazorla had to come off. And the people they are bringing on, [Mathieu] Flamini and [Mikel] Arteta, it’s not enough for Arsenal Football Club to get to where they want to be”.
This was West Brom’s second home win this season and was -timely for Pulis, who has been the focus of much scrutiny from supporters in recent weeks.
“It was a very bad afternoon for us”.
Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal can still salvage their calamitous Champions League campaign as they prepare for Tuesday’s do-or-die showdown with Dinamo Zagreb.
West Brom denied Arsenal the chance to go top of the Premier League standings by recording a gutsy 2-1 win at the Hawthorns on Saturday.
After watching his side hammered 5-1 at Bayern Munich in their last European outing, Wenger said: “Let’s hope Bayern beat Olympiakos and we win at home against Zagreb, which would leave us with a chance to qualify from the last game”. It is a hard moment for us, yes.
“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 have [Aaron] Ramsey and maybe [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain back for the weekend and [Theo] Walcott will be the next one – all the other players are long-term injuries”.
While Wenger is optimistic about Arsenal’s chances, he acknowledges the north Londoners have only themselves to blame for their precarious predicament. “I would not explain our defeat by that”.
Arteta had previously netted an unfortunate own goal after replacing the injured Francis Coquelin in the 14th minute in what was a remarkable substitute’s appearance, with the former Everton midfielder then leaving the pitch injured early in the second half.
“We tried and tried and tried until the last minute but we can’t give any excuses – we lost the three points”.
Wenger confirmed that Coquelin would miss at least two months of action after suffering a knee ligament injury, but hinted that Mathieu Flamini and even Calum Chambers could be chosen to step in to the Frenchman’s midfield role.
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Coquelin has won 31/58 tackles in the Premier League this season.
