Arsenal suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat at second tier Sheffield Wednesday to exit the League Cup in the fourth round.
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Oxlade-Chamberlain was forced off in the fifth minute of Arsenal’s 3-0 League Cup defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, while his replacement Theo Walcott lasted until only the 13th minute of the game.
“I’m very happy to score a goal and the team won and that we are through to the next round”, said the former Nacional player, who had one of his tooth knocked out in last Friday’s success at Rotherham United.
“We are short now, because we’ve lost Chamberlain and Walcott, and already have a few injuries”.
“They were faster, sharper and more decisive than us”, added Wenger.
Wednesday manager Carvalhal said: “If the players, Chamberlain and Walcott, stay on then, of course, Arsenal would have been stronger”. I must say that Joel Campbell and Calum Chambers are two players who do absolutely everything right.
“Maybe [I brought] too many experience players played here”. He works very hard for the team.
Despite being three goals down, Arsenal started to fight back with 20 minutes to go, as Mathieu Debuchy did enough to win a corner, but Per Mertesacker’s header from close range was straight at Joe Wildsmith.
Wenger fielded 10 internationals in his starting XI but had made eight changes from Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Everton, with trips to Swansea City and Bayern Munich coming up in the next week.
“I believe that we will keep that solidarity, that desire to do well and I think we are focused to do well and together we have improved on that front, and we know that when we have the ball we can create chances”.
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“We were not at the level requested to play a team of the quality of Sheffield Wednesday and in the end we have to congratulate them”, he told Sky Sports. The Gunners are among the best teams in the country and popssibly Europe but squad rotation is so important to keeping things fresh that this cup is a good way for Wenger to allow fringe players to get game time.
