Wenger: Defensive mistakes costly in Capital One Cup exit

The Frenchman believes the loss to Chelsea was
the result of errors made by his players at key
moments, but insists they will respond against
Liverpool
Arsene Wenger was left to rue defensive errors
from his Arsenal side as they crashed out of
the Capital One Cup at home to London rivals
Chelsea.
Wenger has now failed to beat a Blues side
managed by Jose Mourinho in nine attempts
after a 2-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium on
Tuesday.
Cesar Azpilicueta scored his first goal for
Chelsea and Juan Mata got off the mark for the
season as Mourinho's charges secured a
deserved win to move into the last eight.
Azpilicueta's opener came as a result of a
mistake from right-back Carl Jenkinson, who
failed to get enough on an attempted header
back to Lukasz Fabianski that allowed the
Spanish full-back to nip in apply the finish.
Wenger made eight changes to the side that
beat Crystal Palace 2-0 in the Premier League
on Saturday and, although Mourinho made 10
alternations to his starting line-up, Chelsea
were still able to field an experienced side.
The Arsenal boss felt his team paid the price
for being naive, but backed his players to put
their cup exit behind them when they face
Livepool in the Premier League on Saturday.
Wenger said: "I think it was a very tight game
that was decided by one or two mistakes.
"We were a bit naive in some situations. We
gave them a chance to counter-attack when we
went 1-0 down and we didn't create many
chances ourselves.
"We have to respond well against Liverpool on
Saturday because we are in a strong position in
the league
"Let's not go too quickly to conclusions
because we have taken more points than
anybody since January."