Arsene Wenger refuses to blame Petr Cech after West Ham United defeat

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has insisted that Petr Cech is not to blame after his side's 2-0 defeat to West Ham United.

The former Chelsea man has been blamed by some observers for the two goals from Cheikhou Kouyate and Mauro Zarate that saw the Hammers claim a surprise victory at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Wenger, though, has stated that the team should take responsibility for the result.

"I haven't spoken to Cech," the Frenchman told Sky Sports News. "The first goal was a defensive lapse - a collective lapse. The concentration maybe was not completely there on the set piece, the organisation was not perfect.

"We were too far from our goal. We gave him too much distance to run into. We killed ourselves. With the experience we have in our team, it's difficult to understand.

"I can't see many individual convincing performances today so it's difficult to single one out. Our passing was not incisive enough. Today we have to look at ourselves. We were not good enough."

Arsenal travel to Crystal Palace next Sunday.