Arshavin: Arsenal must move on from defeat

Jim van Wijk,Pa
Tuesday 14 December 2010 14:57 GMT
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Arshavin wants to see goals at the weekend
Arshavin wants to see goals at the weekend (GETTY IMAGES)

Andrey Arshavin believes Arsenal must quickly forget about defeat at Manchester United and focus on getting back to the top of the Barclays Premier League with victory over Stoke.

The Gunners went down 1-0 at Old Trafford last night to a somewhat fortunate header from Park Ji-sung at the end of the first half.

However, Arsenal Wenger's men failed to make the most of their possession - and were given a let-off when Wayne Rooney blasted his second-half penalty high over the crossbar.

Despite their inability to deliver a big performance when it really matters, with United, who have a match in hand, not playing next until Sunday at Chelsea, Arsenal would return to the summit with victory over the Potters.

Arshavin insists that is all the squad must not focus on.

"There is no time to be melancholy or sad. We need to forget this defeat and start thinking about the next match," the Russian declared.

"We need to prepare properly for each opponent. The championship is very interesting this year and nothing has been lost yet."

Arshavin feels the Gunners were "unfortunate" not to come away from Old Trafford with a positive result.

"We didn't deserve defeat. The match was a battle," he said on his official website, http://www.arshavin.eu.

"Both teams fought for the result and unfortunately we lost.

"I think Manchester United had more luck than us during the game, but we were not able to create anything special near their goal.

"We didn't play for a draw. We simply acted responsibly in defence and looked for our chances to attack.

"If it wasn't for a fortunate bounce at the end of the first half, we would have gone in at 0-0 and the second half would have been easier."

After the visit of Stoke, Arsenal host Chelsea on December 27 in what is set to be another key match in an intriguing title race.

Gunners midfielder Jack Wilshere also highlighted the importance of producing a response.

He wrote on his personal Twitter account: "Not a lot to say about last night's game. Very upset about the result but have to move on. Got couple of massive games coming up!"

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