Arsene Wenger admitted Arsenal suffered from mental and physical fatigue against Fulham due to their midweek Champions League outing.
Gunners boss admits his side had to 'dig deep' for point
Arsene Wenger admitted Arsenal suffered from mental and physical fatigue from their midweek Champions League outing for their 1-1 draw against Fulham.
Thomas Vermaelen's own goal gifted the visitors, who had not won on Gunners soil in 25 attempts, the lead just after the hour mark at the Emirates.
The Belgian went on to redeem himself when heading home Theo Walcott's cross from close range with seven minutes remaining.
And Arsenal boss Wenger blamed the midweek victory over Borussia Dortmund which had secured safe passage into the knockout stages for the Premier League result.
"The positives are we have shown an exceptional spirit and desire, refusal to lose the game," the Arsenal manager said.
"You could see many players were on the fringe, and that we had not completely digested the Champions League game on Wednesday night.
"We needed to dig deep, the circumstances in the game went against us because the moment when Fulham scored they were not crossing halfway a lot.
"We scored an own goal at a moment when it was all us, earlier in the season, we could have lost this game, but we came back.
"It is disappointing because we dropped two points, but at least it keeps our
unbeaten run going."
Wenger added: "We had a bit of mental and physical fatigue because we had not completely recovered from the Champions League game, and that happens sometimes.
"We lacked a bit of accuracy in our passing.
"However, we still had the potential to win, early on in the game we could have scored."
The Gunners boss, though, insisted their European game should not be used as an excuse, continuing: "We gave a lot on Wednesday night, and it is a short amount of time to play again.
"But it is not an excuse, it is an explanation.
"We want to be in the Champions League, so we can not cry when we are tired.
"Our challenge is to win these types of games even when we are tired."
