Wenger worried by Gunners' stuttering start

Arsene Wenger struggled to hide his concern after Arsenal’s stuttering start to the campaign continued with a 1-1 draw against 10-man Middlesbrough at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners find themselves fourth from bottom of the Barclays Premiership following just two points out of their first three league matches.

In each of those, Wenger’s men have gone behind.

Today the home side trailed to James Morrison’s neat finish on 22 minutes, which was just about Boro’s only clear-cut chance in front of goal.

Eventually Arsenal drew level through Thierry Henry’s second-half penalty, which came five minutes after Boro skipper George Boateng has been sent off for picking up two quick yellow cards.

Wenger knows it is a trait his team must quickly erase from their game.

“I cannot say that I am unconcerned by our start to the season,” the Arsenal boss said.

“When we fail to win a game we have dominated, it is always worrying and I am now aware that this is our worst ever start in the Premiership.

“It was one of those games when we had all the ball, and the chances against a side that refused to come out and play, but we got ourselves into trouble by falling behind and gave ourselves a mountain to climb.

“We lacked sharpness because half of the team has been away [on international duty].”

However, Wenger insisted: “But on the other hand I have never had a feeling that so much potential is in the team to do so much better.”

“I still feel we are playing better in every game, we just cannot finish off teams.

“The main reason is a bit physical, also the fact we give others confidence by going 1-0 down, and the third is that we are not yet fully using the pitch.

“When we won the ball at Highbury, we were closer to goal. Now we have longer to go and that sometimes gives the opposition a chance to get back.

“But we will do it.”

Arsenal have a midweek Champions League tie before they head to Old Trafford next Sunday.

Wenger declared: “Now the Manchester United game becomes very important for us.

“We have to win our European match in Hamburg so we can go there in good condition.”

William Gallas made his debut for Arsenal following his controversial move from Chelsea on transfer deadline day.

The Frenchman was asked to fill-in at left-back and produced a competent display, if at times showing he still lacked match sharpness having not played for the Blues this season.

“He did well,” said Wenger. “Sometimes when he was in trouble he used his experience. He is not completely ready to play in this position. William lacks games a bit, but overall it was a good performance.”

Chelsea have in today’s match programme notes repeated the attack on their former player, whom they claimed threatened to score an own goal if selected during his dispute with the Premiership champions.

Wenger, though, was keen to draw a line under the whole saga.

He said: “Forget that story and let Chelsea get on with it.

“William has defended himself, I have defended him and cannot do too much more.”

Boro boss Gareth Southgate was delighted to have seen his side produce a battling display to earn a share of the spoils.

However, the former England defender was less than happy with the background which lead to referee Rob Styles showing his captain two swift yellow cards.

The Dutchman protested a quickly-taken free-kick and, along with Jason Euell, was cautioned for dissent.

Boateng then clattered into Freddie Ljungberg in front of the dugouts, an offence which was swiftly punished by another caution and a subsequent red card.

Southgate said: “Only the people on the field know what happened with the free-kick.

“We asked for the whistle, and the players feel they were told he would blow the whistle.

“Then there was obviously a conversation between the referee and Thierry Henry.

“It is very difficult to get to the bottom of.”

Southgate continued: “But I am not going to sit here and have a go because that detracts from the performance of my players.

“The character and resilience they showed was fantastic. We will need that for the rest of the season and I could not have asked more from any of them.

“We knew we had to do a job defensively, and we had one quality attacking moment, which was fantastic.”

Southgate handed a debut to Jonathan Woodgate, signed on loan from Real Madrid. The injury-prone former England defender’s last appearance had been against the Gunners in the Champions League on February 21.

Southgate declared: “Jonathan’s composure helped the defence to settle and it was an incredible performance when you think it was his first competitive game for so long.

“He showed the class he has got and it was a good start for him.”

Boateng had to be helped down the tunnel after he was sent off on 65 minutes.

Southgate said: “He is limping quite badly.

“He will miss the next game, but hopefully after that he will be fit.”