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'Worst' display shocked Wenger

Arsenal failed to perform in Milan © PA Photos

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Arsene Wenger confessed the deficit faced by Arsenal in the second leg of their Champions League tie with AC Milan is "too big", although he admitted his side cannot play any worse than they did at the San Siro in the return match on home soil.

Arsenal were thumped 4-0 on Wednesday, conceding goals to Kevin-Prince Boateng, Robinho(2) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. They now have a mountain to climb at the Emirates if they are to reach the quarter-finals.

"Statistically it's too big a deficit," Wenger said. "We'll try of course but the result is massive for them, very difficult to turn but we cannot do worse than tonight."

Wenger was furious with his defenders, who consistently allowed Ibrahimovic and Robinho to run in behind them. As a result, Milan constantly turned Arsenal towards their own goal in a dominant performance.

"A defeat can happen when you play well but defensively we were poor, we were never in the game and it is a big shock," Wenger said.

"It's a big concern because we were in trouble with the same problem over the top, slow to read the game, slow to respond, and of course it was a big problem for us all night."

Arsenal were without the influential Per Mertesacker due to injury and they lost Laurent Koscielny in Milan. "It looks like a knee problem," Wenger revealed, before confirming Koscielny would miss the weekend FA Cup tie with Sunderland. "Certainly yes, that's another injury in the defence. We lost Mertesacker and now we've lost Koscielny."

Asked if the referee handed Ibrahimovic a soft penalty for Milan's fourth when the striker was felled by Johan Djourou, Wenger preferred to point out that the Swede was offside when creating Milan's second goal for Robinho.

"It looked generous, but I was more concerned by the offside of the second goal," Wenger said. "We had to chase the game early because we lost the ball in areas that you cannot afford at this level."

AC Milan boss Massimiliano Allegri feels his side should have scored more goals. The Italians outplayed the Gunners in the Champions League second round first leg clash at San Siro and are now all but certain of progressing to the quarter-finals, but Allegri believes they should have been even further out of sight.

"Tonight we had so many chances, especially after going 4-0 up," he said. "We could've won 6-0 and ought to take our chances when they appear, above all in Europe.

"I hoped to add some more to the result, because we have to take the opportunities. The result is good, but it would've been better to score a few more and definitively end the tie. Now we need a goal in London to relax.

"The team played almost perfectly, attacking our opponents from the start on all areas of the pitch. In terms of concentration we got it all right and the side showed the right spirit of sacrifice to win.

"We must always play this way in Europe and Italy so we can win every trophy."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.