Arsene Wenger bemoans fixture list as Arsenal lose ground in Premier League after West Ham stalemate

Arsenal were held by West Ham at the London Stadium and Arsene Wenger was left frustrated

Arsene Wenger again pointed to the congested fixture list (Getty)

Arsene Wenger once again pointed to the different gap between games of Premier League sides as a reason for Arsenal’s “lack of sharpness”, as they went three games without a win after a 0-0 draw away to West Ham United.

Having raised the subject in midweek after the 3-1 loss to Manchester United, the French manager talked of how David Moyes’ team had an extra day of rest before this match. He did praise West Ham’s defending, though, as he lamented Arsenal’s lack of ruthlessness and acknowledged that the misses against United may still be playing on their minds, because results are not currently reflecting performances.

“It is one of them, yes,” Wenger said. “Because we had a lot of the ball. It was 10 against 10 in the final third, and we couldn’t find an opening. It was a little bit for the fact they defended very well. It works for them, at the moment. They did that against [Manchester] City, against Chelsea and did that tonight. We lacked maybe a little bit of sharpness as well in the final third. We had many different good opportunities.

“I think that’s where you see, if they had played on Sunday and we had played on Saturday it might have been different on that front, because they had a lot of physical resources to defend. I would say performances are not reflected by results. We had 3 shots against United and did not win the game. Southampton [a 0-0 draw on Sunday] was a similar game to tonight. It is frustrating. We have to keep patience as we are going through a patch where a difference between what we are creating and what we score.”

“I felt that the 33 shots on goal against United and chances missed had a little impact there. We have to continue to focus on the quality of our game and not that we are not ruthless at the moment.”

Moyes meanwhile said he was pleased with the four points gleaned against two of the notional top six – although Arsenal are now in seventh – having also beaten Chelsea, and described it as “a platform”, but admitted they may now need to change approach to beat sides from lower in the table.