Arsene Wenger: ‘We were not ready’

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has claimed his team were not physically ready to take on Liverpool in the opening game of the Premier League season.

The Gunners, 9.00 to win the league title, were handed a difficult first fixture and they struggled to cope with the relentless pressure from the Reds.

Theo Walcott opened the scoring just after missing a penalty but his goal was cancelled out by Philippe Coutinho’s freekick before half-time.

Liverpool then ran riot at the start of the second half, Adam Lallana, Coutinho and debutant Sadio Mane all netting for the visitors.

Arsenal’s Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain and Calum Chambers responded but Arsenal were left empty handed as they fell to a 4-3 defeat.

Wenger has pointed to the absence of some key individuals as one reason for their defeat, Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud, and Laurent Koscielny all sitting out the clash after their exertions at Euro 2016.

Centre back pairing Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista were also absent due to injuries picked up in pre-season, and there was more bad news on the injury as Aaron Ramsey and Alex Iwobi both picked up knocks during the clash.

Speaking after the game, Wenger admitted the new season came around too quickly for some of his squad.

He told Sky Sports: “We pushed players today like Ramsey. It is an impossible situation to get players back from the Euros and prepare.

“We played a very good first half and were unlucky to concede a goal just before half-time and after that, we paid for a lack of experience.

We are not ready physically. “You are in a catch-22 situation with the Euros, whether to give players a rest who need it.

“They are not ready to play this sort of game and get injured, like Ramsey, or you give them a rest and not have them for the start.”