Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott (above) suffered injuries during Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night

Published: 28 October, 2015
by STEVE BARNETT

ARSENE Wenger admitted that he “used too many senior players” in Tuesday night’s League Cup exit at Sheffield Wednesday.

The Arsenal boss is facing an anxious 48-hour wait to find out just what damage was done during the 3-0 defeat at Hillsborough, where Wednesday stunned his lacklustre side to reach the quarter-finals of the competition.

Wenger’s major concern afterwards wasn’t the result, but the injuries his team sustained. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain limped off after only five minutes with a hamstring strain, while his replacement, Theo Walcott, only lasted 14 minutes before suffering a calf complaint.

“They are two muscular injuries and the damage I do not know yet. You have to wait 48 hours for the scans to see how big the damage is,” said Wenger. “It was a bad night at the office, we lost two players and after that we were not good enough.

“We are short now with these injuries. I have to manage the workload of the players and, at the end of the day, I think I maybe brought too many experienced players here.

“Once I lost two players, I had Gabriel and Monreal on the bench, but I did not bring them on as we could not afford to lose any more players.”

Wenger admitted that he “would have loved” to have beaten Wednesday, and edge closer to winning the League Cup – the only domestic trophy that has escaped him during his 20-year spell in England. But now the Gunners have been dumped out of the competition, the Frenchman said there were more important things to think about.

He added: “Our next game is a big game away at Swansea on Saturday, then we have the Champions League against Bayern Munich coming up. I’m sure as a squad now we can focus on other competitions.

“I must say, because of many foreign players playing in the Premier League you have more and more good players going down to the Championship, and to play with young players against Championship sides becomes very difficult. The level of the Championship has definitely gone up.”