Arsene Wenger admitted Arsenal have lost their momentum after his team squandered top spot in Champions League Group A with a poor home draw against Paris Saint-Germain.
Arsenal had already booked their place in the knock-out stages, but in coughing up a 2-1 lead on Wednesday night they now need PSG to drop points against Ludogorets in their final game if they are to finish top of the group.
Wenger cut a frustrated figure after a third successive draw in all competitions and conceded his side have lost their way in November after a blistering September and October.
He said: ‘We have not lost, but we have lost a winning momentum a little bit.
‘I have to be careful on the choice of my words. I say “stuttering” and it comes back at me. Look, we have a special strength in the squad, a consistency in results. We are unbeaten in 18 games.
‘Sometimes you go through spells when you win a bit less. But we have to continue without losing and transform draws into wins. But there’s no reason to panic.’
The result left Wenger hoping for some ‘luck’ to catapult Arsenal back to the top of the group when they play their final game against Basle on December 6.
Given the standings in other groups, Arsenal might yet avoid the likes of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich by finishing second.
Wenger said: ‘At the moment we are second but it’s not over.
‘We have 90 per cent chance to finish second, and we wanted to finish first. But we’ve not lost a game in this group.
‘Overall we’ve done the job well. Will we be lucky enough to finish first? I don’t know and we’d have to wait for the draw. You can’t guess whether it’s good or bad.
‘The advantage if you finish first is to play the second game at home. What is more disappointing is we wanted to win the game, and we didn’t. That is frustrating.’
Aaron Ramsey and Edinson Cavani were involved in an ugly clash at the end of the first half but Wenger said:
‘I think it was not too much.’
