‘We lost the game to one shot, basically’

Pretty much all the match stats were in our favour on Thursday night - except the one that really matters.

Cologne’s winner was controversial and very much against the run of play, but we paid the price for not finishing our own chances.

Arsene Wenger gave his take straight after the match:

on how frustrating the result is…

We had a lot of possession. We lost the game to one shot, basically. It was a very nice penalty that we have to take on board. It was honestly not a penalty at all. We missed a little bit of the accuracy in our passing in the final third that is required to score more goals. We had plenty of dangerous situations but we always missed a little something to finish our chances. I must also say that Cologne defended with spirit, with commitment and overall the crowd was absolutely fantastic for them.

on how difficult it is to focus when you have already qualified…

I must say that the attitude was good. It took us some time to inject some pace into the game. In the second half, it was much quicker. The pitch was a little handicapped tonight, and the players were because of it, but I cannot fault the preparation or the concentration of the players.

on what finishing top of the group means to him…

I don’t know. I will tell you after the draw. You feel you have done the job to finish top of the group. We now play our final game at home against BATE Borisov without much at stake, other than the fact that we want to win the game. What does it really mean? I don’t know. It’s what we wanted.