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Wenger on defeat, defence and Man City

Arsene Wenger spoke to the media after his side lost 6-3 at Manchester City on Saturday. 

Read a transcript of what he had to say below: 

on his assessment of the game…
It was a difficult game. We had the best defence in the Premier League and we conceded many goals today. Honestly, we could have scored at least six as well. It was for me a very open game but on our front I think we made too many mistakes. Our strengths until now was our defensive discipline and that went as the game went on. In the second half the regret I have is at 2-1 we make it 3-1, after we come back to 3-2 we make it 4-2 and always through easy mistakes. We were in a position where we could see the legs were tired a little bit and we had to run after the score. You have always more chances to lose more than to comeback because we had tired legs. In the end it was 6-3 but hurts me more is that we had an opportunity to put Man City at nine points and they are three tonight. That is very difficult to swallow because it's a team that was not unbeatable today [Man City].

on how big a moment the defeat is in the title race…
I don't know. We'll see.

on whether City are the team to beat…
They are one of them the teams to beat, not more than any other one we have played until now. Maybe we have played Everton who are as good as City, we have played Southampton who are as good as City.

on Koscielny's injury…
He has a cut and he will be out for a while but for how long I don't know.

on whether the result would have been different with an extra day's rest…
I don't want to look for excuses after a defeat like that but it didn't help. You know take any team you play Sunday afternoon, Wednesday away in the Champions League and Saturday morning away in league you are under threat. I said before the game I will not use it as an excuse and I don't want to do it now. But it was not ideal, you could see that we were not as fresh as we should be for a big game.

on his view of the penalty appeal being turned down…
I think we had three real offsides which were not turned down and the penalty turned down. The referee had a bad game.

on Mertesacker and Ozil's confrontation at the end…
The Germans will sort that out between themselves don't worry.

on Jack Wilshere making a gesture to the Man City fans…
I didn't see that. I don't know if he did it. If he did it and he's banned we will have to accept it.

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