Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal have only themselves to blame as they were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw with Wolves.
Arsenal manager wants his side to retain their fighting spirit
Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal have only themselves to blame as they were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw with Wolves at the Emirates.
Gervinho put the Gunners ahead after just eight minutes with an assured finish after rounding Wayne Hennessey.
Wolves remained bright as an attacking force and were rewarded when Steven Fletcher headed an equaliser after 38 minutes.
Nenad Milijas was dismissed after the interval as Wolves held on for the draw, but Wenger felt his side could have done better to defend Fletcher's equaliser.
Maturity
"A second goal would have killed the game off," he told
Sky Sports News.
"But I believe it was a question of us not making a mistake until half-time, and not to let them back in the game if they have something to hang on to.
"If they had to come out a bit more, it would have been a different story. That is where we still lack a bit of maturity, because look at how we lost the ball just before the corner.
Spirit
"And how we played them on, I think we can only blame ourselves because we have not done well on that."
Wolves showed tremendous spirit when they went down to 10 men as Hennessey pulled off numerous saves to keep them in the game.
Wenger added: "We had a bit of bad luck with one or two decisions going against us, and their goalkeeper had an outstanding game.
"We gave absolutely everything to win the game and I believe it's important to keep the spirit."
Theo Walcott missed the game through injury but Wenger expects to have him fit for the weekend.
"Walcott is sick, he has a stomach problem. He is already better today. He could not come to training yesterday, but should be available for Saturday's game," he told the club's
official website.
