Arsène Wenger praised Arsenal for showing maturity and extending the unbeaten run on Saturday, despite not being at their best against Middlesbrough.
The boss admits the performance was “less smooth and less fluent” but was able to take pleasure in the team grinding out a draw, which means the Gunners are still unbeaten since the opening day.
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"We’ve lost games like that," he said. "We are in a position where we’ve come out of [seven] straight wins. We didn’t win but before we maybe would’ve panicked a bit and lost the game."
The boss denied that the team had let complacency creep in, and said that the lack of sharpness was more down to their European exertions against Ludogorets on Wednesday night.
"I don’t feel that is the case in training, that the players become complacent. Sometimes you’re a bit jaded physically, but we had to dig deep to get things going.
"Unfortunately when you play against teams like Middlesbrough, they watch the Champions League games on television and they are ready physically for the weekend. It’s not easy."
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