Wenger on...the opening goal
"There were a few turning points in the game, on both sides, and it was very difficult. In a game like that the first goal will have enormous importance, because 85 per cent of these kind of games are decided on the first goal. We feel we scored a regular goal and that the referee made a very bad decision."

Wenger on...decisions going the wrong way
"Essien was a straight red in my opinion. It was straight in front of the dugout. Somebody told me Senderos should have been sent off as well. Maybe - if he had to to be sent off he has to be sent off - I'm not against that. You want the referee's to make the right decision. I just feel in our last two games we were hard done by these type of decisions."

Wenger on...the rest of the season
"We have to be in the Champions League next year, and we want to finish as close as possible to the top team, is it Chelsea or is it somebody else, but we cannot just think now we have some other targets. We have to show our strength now and come back, and finish as close as possible to the top team."

Wenger on...the game itself
"We were playing well. We hit the post and we scored a goal then just before half time they scored a goal. In the second half they sat off and the level of the game dropped I feel. We did not have enough physical resources to put them under pressure. Then towards the end they got, I think, a soft goal but you have to give credit to Cole aswell. He had a very good game in my opinion"

Arsène Wenger

Copyright 2013 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source 18 Dec 2005