2009-12-07 : Arsenal 2 - 0 Stoke City

Wenger: I thought it might be one of those days

Dear Supporter,

We needed the three points on Saturday.

I feel we had a good first half against Stoke and we should have been two or three up. Then in the second half you could see that recent defeats had played on our mind because it was only 1-0 and we were a bit more restricted. But what I liked is that we didn't give any chances away and we got the second goal that secured the win.

You could see how we have a game based on initiative and if our confidence drops we are in danger. That's why we could not lose confidence against Stoke.

When Cesc missed his penalty I did think it might be one of those days, especially when you play against Stoke who are well-organised, mentally strong and do not need many chances to score a goal against you because of their long throws or set pieces. If you make a mistake they take advantage of it.

At the end of the day we scored the most difficult chance in the first half and Andrey did an excellent job in his central role. I don't think he was desperate to play centre forward but I am convinced he can do that job because he has good body power and movement and good technique. He could have had two or three goals on Saturday and overall he did very well.

I don't know whether he will play there all the time while Robin is injured. I have to try it again and to see if it works at home, away from home and to find a balance as well because I had many technical players around him with Rosicky, Nasri, Fabregas and Eboue all penetrating from deep positions. That is needed when you have a player like Arshavin.

We will see but at the moment we do not have much choice with Walcott out, Bendtner out, Van Persie of course. But we could get Walcott back, we could get Bendtner back in two to three weeks. We had as well Diaby and Song out on Saturday and they should be available next week.

There are even more injuries to report after the Stoke game. We had Eboue with a muscular problem, Rosicky with a groin problem, Traore a hamstring problem and Gallas a hamstring problem. We are hopeful that Eboue, Traore and Gallas are not too serious but Tomas is out for a while. Eduardo has a thigh problem but the medical staff tell me he could be available next weekend.

Thanks for your continued support.