Thomas Vermaelen has said that Arsenal cannot use their absent players as an excuse for dropping points in their last two games. Saturday’s defeat at Chelsea was followed up with a 2-2 draw against Swansea.
These results have left Arsenal six point adrift of the league leaders. Mesut Ozil, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Laurent Koscielny and Aaron Ramsey are all sidelined at the minute, but Vermaelen believes the Gunners should be able to cope. He said:
“I don’t think that injuries are an excuse. Of course we’re missing players, important players as well, but we’ve a big squad with good players so that shouldn’t be the reason. it’s difficult to say how we let Swansea back into the game. We were pushing the whole game and we were playing in their half to get the first equaliser and then score to make it 2-1.
“They were all going back and we were just attacking. We just had to make sure we didn’t concede a goal on the counter-attack. It was just about being patient and in the end we managed to score twice but unfortunately they managed to score at the end as well.
“I don’t know if there was any lack of confidence in the team. We were pushing the whole game and had most of the possession.”
By Charlie Gregory
@CharlieGLFC
