Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger points finger at referees after abject defeat to Manchester City

Arsenal suffered their second consecutive Premier League defeat, leaking two goals in the second half to Manchester City, having taken an early lead in the game via Theo Walcott. This was another one of those "ah, this is typical Arsenal, always caving under the pressure" performances from the London side, with Arsene Wenger again left with finding creative ways to describe another collapse from his team (well, not that creative, since the manager blamed the referees for giving away two "offside" goals).

Having gone down 2-1 to Everton, also after taking the lead, there was pressure on Arsenal to do better at City. They also needed the three points after Chelsea increased their lead at the top with a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday.

However, yet again, with the pressure and weight of expectations on them, the Arsenal players failed to deal with the situation, giving away two cheap goals to Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling, which not only gave City an uplifting victory at the Etihad, but also left Wenger's team a full nine points behind Chelsea.

Now, Arsenal will need to go on a winning run similar to the one currently enjoyed by the Premier League leaders to get the critics back on their side, because, otherwise, it could turn out to be another one of those "false hope" seasons again.

"It's terrible because it didn't look like we could lose this game," Wenger told Arsenal Player.

"Then in the second half we come out straight away and we concede an offside goal. It's not enough because after we concede another offside goal and I think it's unacceptable to lose games like that.

"In the recent weeks we have been absolutely punished by wrong decisions but we can only look at ourselves. I think we dropped physically as well in the second half and maybe the equaliser gave them some courage and we dropped."

Wenger blamed refereeing decisions for Arsenal's 2-1 defeat to Everton and he took the same route with Manchester City as well, but at the end of the day, the manager needs to look at his players' mentality. The manner in which their heads dropped the moment the equaliser was scored early in the second half should be a real cause for worry for Wenger.

"We certainly gave them hope with the 1-1," Wenger added. "We dropped a bit physically in the second half and maybe mentally as well when they equalised.

"We conceded two offside goals, what is very difficult to accept in a game of that stature. But as it is well-known, the referees are protected very well, and that is right, like the lions in the zoo. So we have to live with those decisions.

"I want them to be very well protected, I want them to be safe. But if they could make the right decisions that would be even better. Safe and good decisions, even better. I do not want to make the referees the subject of the press conference. I just feel it's right that they are safe and protected, but if on top of that they make the good decisions, even better.

"It's difficult to lose a game of that stature on two offside goals and I can understand City are very happy, I would be as well, but I think the goals are offside."