Football
Mattias Karen, Arsenal correspondent 7y

Arsenal's Arsene Wenger: EFL Cup exit shouldn't halt Premier League form

Arsene Wenger does not think Arsenal's 2-0 EFL Cup defeat to Southampton should affect the team's momentum in the Premier League.

The loss at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday ended a 19-game unbeaten run in all competitions for the Gunners, stretching back to the opening-day defeat against Liverpool.

The sequence included 12 games in the Premier League without a loss, and Arsenal can keep that streak going against West Ham on Saturday.

"I count more the momentum in the Premier League, that is important for us," Wenger told Arsenal's official website. "I knew that in the League Cup [a loss] could happen, but it's disappointing to lose the game more than the run we have. The run we want to keep is in the Premier League."

The Arsenal boss made 10 changes to his team from Sunday's league win over Bournemouth, but the XI struggled to create chances and conceded twice in the first half to Southampton.

Wenger said he was disappointed with the way his team started the game.

"I question our urgency level, our focus from the start. It was not good enough and we paid for that," he said. "Overall, I think that is the most disappointing. It can happen that you go out of the competition, but our first 45 minutes were just not good enough and not at the level of required concentration."

Centre-back Rob Holding was given his third Arsenal start in the EFL Cup -- his first appearance since the previous win over Reading more than a month ago.

And the 21-year-old conceded that Arsenal should have done better even with many of the club's starters having been rested.

"You look at the players we had out tonight, there were some big players and you think with the strength of the squad, a second string team can get all the way, but it wasn't to be," Holding told Arsenal's official website.

"It was a chance to get some silverware at the end of the season, so I'm disappointed to be out of the competition. There's not much more I can say really. We've just got to learn from it and it'll only help us in the coming years."

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