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Vermaelen - Both goals were avoidable

Thomas Vermaelen admits Arsenal conceded two "avoidable" goals to exit the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night.

Cesar Azpilicueta seized on a Carl Jenkinson header to open the scoring in the 26th minute and Juan Mata's second-half strike - against the run of play - secured a 2-0 win for Chelsea.

"It is a bit disappointing of course," Vermaelen told Arsenal Player. "I don't think they had a lot of chances to be honest, especially in the second half when we dominated the game. We couldn't create a lot of chances ourselves but at the end it's quite a disappointing result.

"The first goal is always important, you always want to take the lead in such a big game"

"The first goal is always important, you always want to take the lead in such a big game. It's quite disappointing they got a 1-0 lead, it was a goal we could avoid - I think both goals [were avoidable].

"I think we started well in the second half, pushing higher up, and we had the most possession of the ball. That's why the second goal killed it a little bit."

Vermaelen has called on Arsenal to get back on track when Liverpool visit the Premier League leaders on Saturday.

"It's really important for the league, we need to respond quickly," he said. "It's good the game is on Saturday and we can respond on the defeat from Tuesday night."