Arsenal 1
Fenerbahce 1

'Sometimes in England, you hear, 'They don't fancy that'. Of course we don't fancy that, because that's not football.' ARSENE WENGER, still smarting from the defeat by hard-tackling Stoke

LONDON: Against Fenerbahce in the Champions League on Wednesday, Arsenal should have had seven goals to get the Premier League loss to Stoke out of their system.

Instead, they settled for 0-0 with a team they dismantled 5-2 in Turkey, ran out of energy, bagged another injury and got jeered by the 60,000 fans.

Not the best preparation for Manchester United's League visit tomorrow - a game that manager Arsene Wenger has admitted is a do-or-die showdown.

'We don't want excuses,' midfielder Cesc Fabregas said, although Wenger had plenty to offer for Wednesday's poor result. He said his players, like those of the other top clubs, were physically drained.

'None of the English teams had lost in the Champions League until this week,' Wenger said. 'This week, none of them won, and that's explainable by the fact that last week, everybody gave a lot in the Premier League.'

But Arsenal's past three results have all been disappointing, and each for a different reason.

Against Tottenham, they led 4-2 and surrendered two points by conceding late goals. Away to Stoke, they were undone by long throws and physical confrontation. On Wednesday, they kept a clean sheet but squandered a series of chances.

Robin van Persie was the worst culprit. He missed when one on one with the goalkeeper Volkan Demirel, drove a close-range shot into the ground and over the bar, saw a free kick deflected wide and had a shot tipped on to the bar.

As the late Brian Clough once said of Trevor Brooking, a delightfully delicate midfield player for West Ham and England: 'He floats like a butterfly, and stings like one.'

But van Persie was far from the only one to spurn chances - a similar theme of Arsenal's play in the last few seasons.

The intricacy of their build-up, the moments of bewitching skill - all wasted by the failure to turn dominance into goals.

Even the chances could disappear against United. Van Persie will be suspended, after he was sent off against Stoke for charging the goalkeeper. Emmanuel Adebayor is already out for three weeks. Theo Walcott is an injury doubt.

Wenger's remaining options are the 19-year-old Carlos Vela and Nicklas Bendtner, who was booed when taken off after 59 minutes against Fenerbahce. Hardly inspiring for a match against the European champions.

To make things worse, former United defender Mikael Silvestre suffered a suspected broken nose after an 83rd-minute elbow from Fenerbahce's Semih Senturk.

There were no suggestions that it was deliberate, but maybe the sight of his bloodied player saw Wenger go on another rant about Arsenal players being targets of hard tackles.

'Sometimes in England, you hear, 'They don't fancy that',' said Wenger, still smarting from the Stoke defeat. 'Of course, we don't fancy that, because that's not football.'

He also lashed out at referees, claiming they were more ready to punish his players than they were other teams.

'Arsenal are top of the fair play table,' Wenger said. 'But the team that get more yellow cards after four or five fouls are Arsenal. Some teams get the first yellow card after only 15 fouls.

'Either I cannot read the rule book or something is wrong.'

When Arsenal had the likes of rough boys Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Martin Keown, they were bottom of the fair play table, but were usually top of the Premier League table. Coincidence?

As it is, Arsenal remain one win away from qualification to the Champions League knock-out rounds. With Dynamo Kiev next to visit London, few are expecting late drama. But another performance as wasteful as this, and who knows?

But first comes the clash with United.

'It is a massive game with a massive importance for us,' said Wenger, whose side have also lost to Hull and Fulham in the League. 'For us, it is vital to do well in the big games now. I'm confident we will.' How he did not explain.

THE TIMES, LONDON, BLOOMBERG NEWS, ASSOCIATED PRESS

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