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Vermaelen - Injuries are not an excuse

Thomas Vermaelen

Thomas Vermaelen says Arsenal cannot use their absent players as an excuse for dropping points in their last two Premier League games.

Saturday's defeat at Chelsea was followed by a 2-2 draw with Swansea City on Tuesday night, leaving Arsenal six points adrift of the leaders.

Mesut Ozil, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Laurent Koscielny and Aaron Ramsey are all sidelined at the moment but Vermaelen believes Arsenal should be able to cope.

"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"

"I don't think that injuries are an excuse," he said. "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 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 we had most of the possession."

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