‘In the context it’s a bad result’

Arsene Wenger says that a draw at West Ham United is normally acceptable - but not this time.

The Arsenal manager saw his side take a two-goal at the Boleyn Ground on Saturday thanks to Mesut Ozil and Alexis, but Andy Carroll’s hat-trick turned the game on its head.

Wenger made a string of attacking substitutions to try and salvage a result and he was rewarded when Laurent Koscielny struck, but the Gunners could not find a winner.

“We were [in control],” Wenger told Arsenal Player. “There are always a lot of positives. Overall, you can say it is not a bad result to draw here, but in the context of the league, where we are and what we want to achieve, it is a very bad result for us.

“I wanted to win the game. In the end we had the opportunities to score a fourth goal, but we were not calm enough. I think we rushed our game in the box and that is disappointing.

“One or two times on the counter-attack the pass didn’t come quickly enough out of the feet and that is why we missed.”

Carroll was the scourge of Arsenal - his first two goals came just 160 seconds apart - and Wenger thinks his team should have handled him better.

“We should have made life a bit more difficult for him,” said Wenger. “On the first, second and third goal, we were a bit naive defensively.”