On the other side, Watford had pretty good start in the season, but now are without a victory in seven straight Premier League games.
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Mazzarri added: “I want to wish Odion Ighalo good luck because he is a great player and professional”.
Wenger served the second game of his four-match touchline ban, for pushing a fourth official, and refused to use this as a reason for the defeat.
The Arsenal boss said they struggled “on the mental front” in the first half of their 2-1 Premier League defeat, echoing a familiar complaint from fans in recent years about the Gunners’ title challenges which have so often flattered to deceive.
After an easier-than-we-all-thought win in the Cup on Saturday, Arsenal get right back into league business with a visit from Watford tomorrow.
Arsenal were 2-0 down after just 13 minutes as Watford dominated the first half, using their size advantage in nearly every position to prevent the Gunners from establishing their normal passing game in the steady rain.
Deeney, who netted his sixth top-flight goal of the campaign, paid tribute to former Watford manager Graham Taylor, who passed away this month. “We’ve still got 16 games and in the 16 games I can guarantee we will give our best”, Watford’s official website quoted Mazzarri as saying. But overall I can trust my assistant, Steve Bould, who was with Neil [Banfield] on the bench and we could communicate, so overall it went well.
Watford debutant M’Baye Niang made an instant impact as he won a free kick on the edge of the Arsenal box in the 10th minute, with Kaboul sending his shot past Petr Cech with the aid of deflection off Aaron Ramsey.
The visitors ended the first half with five shots on goal and four of those were on target.
Arsenal was unrecognizable after the break.
Alex Iwobi’s second-half strike set the Gunners up for a late rally but Arsene Wenger’s side failed to find the equaliser.
This means Alexis will be pushed over to the left-hand side again, and with Ozil returning to the middle it leaves just the one spot for Welbeck, Walcott or Iwobi to claim.
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The Gunners almost pulled level on 84 minutes, but Lucas Perez’s stinging effort from close range crashed against the crossbar.
