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Wenger: Exasperated

In terms of the decisions going against us, this is the worst I've seen in my 11 years at Arsenal.

Arsene Wenger.
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Arsene Wenger claims Arsenal have been on the end of the worst refereeing decisions he has ever experienced in his time with the Gunners.

The North London club crashed out of the UEFA Champions League in midweek as contentious penalty decisions went against them in both legs of their quarter-final clash with Liverpool.

First, Alexander Hleb was denied a spot-kick at Emirates Stadium when he was pulled back by Dirk Kuyt, before Kolo Toure was harshly penalised for his challenge Ryan Babel late in the second leg at Anfield.

The Gunners have fallen off the Premier League title pace in recent weeks and are six points adrift of Manchester United ahead of their trip to Old Trafford on Sunday, live on Sky Sports 1.

Wenger remains perplexed by the decisions which have gone against his team and insists it has hit the confidence of his players.

Punished

The Frenchman said: "It has been a very difficult week - the hardest of the season.

"In terms of the decisions going against us, this is the worst I've seen in my 11 years at Arsenal.

"This team has been punished in the last seven weeks more than any team I have seen in England since I arrived here.

"Every single decision has gone against this team in every single game recently.

"It is the big decision in every game and I don't know why that is.

"It damages the confidence of the team and then you become more vulnerable. It is difficult to understand.

"I don't want to make a big fuss of the refereeing decisions because I cannot change that and I do not want to focus on that.

"I want to focus on what I can improve, but the least you can say that it has not helped us.

"It's a big disappointment because we had the room to go through - easy, easy - against Liverpool."