Arsenal were poor at Norwich, says Arsene Wenger

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says his side lacked desire in their 1-0 defeat at Norwich.

Grant Holt's goal gave the Canaries a first league win of the season.

"You can always find excuses when you lose a game but, overall, you have to stand up and say Norwich wanted it more than us," said Wenger.

"I believe we have to put that behind us and focus on our next game and realise that what we produced against Norwich was not good enough."

Arsenal, who had won their previous two matches, now find themselves 10 points behind top-flight leaders Chelsea.

"I wouldn't use the international break as an excuse for our defeat," said the Frenchman. "I felt that we were not in the game at the start concentration-wise and started to get into it when we were 1-0 down.

"Norwich defended well with good spirit and good organisation. We had a lot of the ball but we didn't do a lot with it. Our offensive performance was very, very poor.

"Football is a sport where, first of all, you have to be right with your concentration and I feel offensively we didn't win the decisive fights."

Arsenal's next outing is a Champions League group game against Schalke on Wednesday, and Wenger confirmed winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will miss that match.

The England international came on as a substitute against Norwich but lasted just nine minutes before going off injured.

"It's a kick on his hip," said Wenger. "He won't be out long term. He won't be fit for Wednesday. It's about a week out."

Midfielder Jack Wilshere returned to the first team set-up after 14 months out injured but was an unused substitute.

"I would have brought him on if the game [against Norwich] had allowed it, but it was too intense," explained Wenger.

"He will play on Monday with the reserves and then we will see where we go from there."