Arsenal 5 Aston Villa 0: 'It wasn't good enough to lose by that margin,' admits Paul Lambert

'You can't print the things I'm feeling,' said Lambert after defeat

Paul Lambert makes a gesture on the touchline at the Emirates (GETTY IMAGES)

Paul Lambert admitted that his frustrations were in unprintable language after seeing his Aston Villa side collapse to another Premier League defeat at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Villa conceded four second-half goals to Arsenal as well as extending their own goalless league streak beyond 10 hours, a new club record. While Lambert said he “did not think it was a 5-0 game”, he was upset his players had lost by that scoreline.

“You probably can’t print the things I’m feeling,” the Villa manager admitted. “I thought for 60 minutes of that game we were well in it. The disappointing thing was the acceptance to lose more goals. The disappointing thing was the second goal. You cannot lose the ball 80 yards from our goal and then concede,” he said.

“It was a strange game. I didn’t think it was a 5-0 game, but it was and you have to take it. It wasn’t good enough for us to lose by that margin.”

After seeing his side fail to score for the sixth consecutive league game – their goal drought now stretches for 612 minutes – Lambert insisted he is not a defensive manager.

“You get that thrown at you,” he said. “The players that are going on the pitch are not defensive players. It is not as if you have tried to park everything. I always try and win games. We just need to keep going and work hard to turn it around.”

Aston Villa players are capable of scoring goals in training, Lambert said. “We do finishing and crossing in training every time,” he explained. “But when it comes to the big pitch, you’ve got to perform at that level. When you come to a place like this, and get chances like we had, you’ve got to score.”

Arsène Wenger admitted some sympathy for his beleaguered counterpart. “I feel a bit for Villa,” he said, “they gave a lot and fought hard. They were caught in the last 20 minutes because they were tired, but overall they did fight.”

Wenger was understandably delighted with the goal-scoring returns of Mesut Özil and Theo Walcott, and described the second half as “one-sided”. “I think Özil still lacks a bit of competitive edge on the sharpness front,” he said, “but the quality of his game is exceptional. He is getting back.

Mesut Ozil celebrates scoring Arsenal's second (GETTY IMAGES)

“When Walcott is in the game, he can score goals. In his overall game, he still needs some more sharpness or contact. But he’s a very intelligent player and his game is about the quality of his movement and reception when he gets the ball. He must get used to physical contact but in every game he’s stronger now.”

Asked if this strong display meant Arsenal could challenge for the title, Wenger said: “It is too early to say. We are 11 points behind – that means they [Chelsea] need to lose four games and we need to win four. I believe that we should try to be consistent and see what happens.

Theo Walcott (right) scored Arsenal's fourth (GETTY IMAGES)

“We have maybe found a better consistency, that will be very important until the end. Let’s show that we can win more and when the confidence level is higher and when everybody’s back defensively, it makes a difference.”