Arsenal players have been injured on 16 separate occasions this season, a record which actually compares quite favourably to their rivals in the Premier League title race.
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And, speaking after the game, a clearly dejected Wenger said: “It was a bad afternoon, we missed a penalty, we gave a goal away on set-piece, that is ideal to make your afternoon a nightmare and we missed open goal chances”. Coming back from the global break, Arsene Wenger and his side would have thought they had three more points in their bag with West Brom’s recent form. “I think at 1-0 up we became a little too easy and the equaliser they scored sums it up well, they didn’t even need to have the ball”.
“The only part where maybe we lost focus a bit was between the 35th minute and the 45th minute. We were 1-0 up in the 28th minute and then 2-1 down before the 45th, so our defending on that level was very, very poor”, Wenger was quoted as saying by the local media.
Arsenal’s injury woes also grew after Francis Coquelin and Arteta joined a lengthy list who are already in the treatment room.
Arsene Wenger faces the prospect of taking on Dinamo Zagreb in the must-win Champions League game on Tuesday with eight players absent through injury.
“It is a disappointment to lose him”.
Confirmation of the length of Coquelin’s lay-off is another significant blow to an Arsenal side ravaged by injuries, having faced West Brom without Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck, Tomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Arteta then deflected a cross from the left past Petr Cech to gift West Brom the lead and Arsenal saw their best chance of a draw go to waste as Cazorla’s slip meant their six-match unbeaten run came to an end.
“There have been games here this year where we’ve been disappointed that we’ve lost”, he said. One is a muscle problem for Arteta and the other one is a knee problem and I don’t know how serious that is but we will know certainly tomorrow, for Coquelin.
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“I will give myself time, we have players who play in this position like Mathieu Flamini and players who can play there like Calum Chambers”.
