• Premier League

Ox's Arsenal defence warning

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain says Arsenal need to cut out the defensive lapses after admitting their high-tempo style leaves them vulnerable on the counter-attack.

Arsenal came from behind to secure a 1-1 draw in the north London derby against Tottenham with Oxlade-Chamberlain's close-range strike cancelling out Nacer Chadli's opener.

Arsene Wenger's side, however, had controlled the game before a lapse in concentration from defensive midfielder Mathieu Flamini allowed Christian Eriksen to snatch the ball and set-up a swift counter for Chadli's goal.

Nacer Chadli opened the scoring for Tottenham on Saturday © PA Photos

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"That is the risk you take when you play the way we play football," said Oxlade-Chamberlain. "We try to take control of games, we like to set the tempo.

"We send a lot of bodies forward in a positive and attacking fashion and you do leave yourself at times a little bit vulnerable to the counter-attack.

"It is just important that when we do, we have got people in the team that are willing to take the responsibility of holding back and being there to stop counter-attacks.

"But, yeah, I do love playing in this team and the style of play that we do, as I think all the players could say.

"We do, though, need to obviously be careful and make sure we are defending at the same time as when we are attacking.

"It is something we have always worked on because it is an area I am sure teams look at to try and break us down, so we have got to be ready for that."

Arsenal head to Premier League leaders Chelsea next weekend, where they were beaten 6-0 last season, in what was Wenger's 1,000th match in charge.

Oxlade-Chamberlain, though, says Arsenal won't be changing their approach despite the thrashing.

"We do understand what happened there last season. Maybe we have got a point to prove there, we know this year we have got to step up in the big games and get some results in them," he said.

"We are really looking forward to that game and we definitely give Chelsea the respect they deserve, but, at the same time, I have belief in my team-mates and we do in ourselves to be able to go to a place like Chelsea and set the tempo and hopefully take control of the game.

"There will be times in the game I am sure when they have a spell, because they are a top team.

"They are going to have their time, we are going to have ours, we just have to make sure that when we do have our chances we make them count."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd