Wenger urges calm after Arsenal defeat to Chelsea

Arsene Wenger has insisted there is no need to be concerned after Arsenal were beaten by Chelsea in the Capital One Cup a week after they lost to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, the Daily Telegraph has reported.

The loss to their Premier League rivals was the second home defeat in a row after the Dortmund reverse and with a third home game against Liverpool to come this weekend, it was suggested to Wenger that another victory for a visiting side could undo the Gunners’ good work of climbing to the top of the table.

“Let’s not go too quick to conclusions,” Wenger said in reply. “If you take the points we have made since January 1, it’s more than anyone else. On a longer distance, you’ll see more of the quality of the team than in the last two games.

“It’s difficult to swallow what happened to us in the last week, but the mistakes are so big they can be corrected,” the manager added. “We have to keep the basis of our game and go into the next one.

“You can’t go to conclusions too quickly. We have [Theo] Walcott and [Lukas] Podolski out, players who have a big impact defensively. If you put them in, it’s a completely different position in the team.”

Wenger made a number of changes from the XI that beat Crystal Palace on Saturday, dropping the likes of Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud to the bench, while Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini were also absent through suspension and injury respectively. But there were no regrets over the team sent out to face Chelsea from Wenger.

“It was a very tight game that was decided on one or two mistakes,” Wenger said. “But overall you cannot play all the games with the same players. At some stage we have to rotate.”

Arsenal currently lead the Premier League, sitting top of the table with 22 points from nine games. Chelsea are second, two points adrift, and travel to Newcastle on Saturday while Arsenal host Brendan Rodgers’ Reds.