Arsene Wenger remains stubborn despite latest Arsenal defeat as he insists he is the best man for the job

Wenger remained confident there was no one better than him to lead the Gunners

Wenger would not change his tune on his future (AFP/Getty Images)

It will dismay many but surprise no-one to learn that, even after a fourth successive defeat, Arsene Wenger was stubbornly insisting that he remains the right man to lead Arsenal out of the mire.

Despite loud calls from a section of the travelling fans during the 2-1 defeat at Brighton for the Frenchman to go, Wenger's focus is on masterminding a recovery away to AC Milan in the Europa League on Thursday.

“At the moment, my future is not my main worry,” he said. “My worry is to get Arsenal winning football games. Then we'll see where we go from there. I'll try and give my best as long as I am here. We have to get the team back more confidence. But we need to recover physically first. The programme we have at the moment is too demanding.”

Successive defeats by Manchester City in the EFL Cup final a week ago and then a rearranged league game last Thursday had taken their toll both mentally and physically, he said.

“Look, I can understand the frustration. What can I say? The League Cup in the middle of the season makes it difficult if you don't win it. It brings a lot of negative waves. The one we lost brought a lot of negativity. On top of that, the game rearranged on Thursday night didn't help us to compete today. The negativity after losing the final, plus the fact we're not in a fantastic position in the league, hits us hard.”

And he is convinced that there is nobody better able than him to turn the situation round.

“Yes, because I've done it before,” he said. “It's the first time I've lost so many games on the trot in my life [actually since 2002]. I believe a quality of manager is to try and shorten a crisis, and I believe I can do that.”

Wenger agreed that Arsenal looked tired as Brighton swept into a 2-0 lead. “When you play many games, it takes you time sometimes to get into a game. Many times you suffer in the first half. They were sharper than us in the first half. We still lacked a bit of zip to make a difference in the second half.”

And he launched into a slightly puzzling metaphor about being undressed - as his defence certainly was at times by Brighton's swift counter-attacks - which seemed to mean 'Don't kick a man when he is down.'

“It's difficult when you have just the trousers on,” he said. “It's easy to take the trousers off as well, but when you are naked completely you have to try and find a shirt and get dressed properly again. You can't put them more down.”

Petr Cech, the goalkeeper, admitted that he had been at fault for both Brighton goals, missing his punch before Lewis Dunk's opener and allowing Glenn Murray's headed second to slip under his body. “If you want to win a game away of home in the best league in the world your GK can’t concede 2 goals like I did today,” he tweeted. “It’s simply not possible. The team fought back but the damage was done.”

Brighton stunned Arsenal with two early goals (AFP/Getty Images)

Brighton manager Chris Hughton would not accept that the victory, which nudges the Seagulls up to tenth place with 34 points, has all but banished any remaining concerns about relegation. But he said: “What it feels at the moment is that this is a big win, particularly given who we were playing against. We were good first half and might have scored another. We're definitely hitting our best form at the right stage of the season. It's now whether we can take it forward.

“It's very comforting [to be seven clear of the bottom three]. But we're all professionals around here and, come tomorrow, our thoughts have to be on the next game. Can we get more points to make it even more comforting? As soon as you take your foot off the pedal, there are too many good teams around who can knock you down again.”