Arsenal 0 Blackburn 0: Wenger claims international duty led to Gunners’ lack of sharpness

The Gunners manager was at a loss to explain the team’s “flat performance with a lack of energy” in the goalless draw against 10-man Blackburn at Emirates Stadium.

It was, though, a familiar below-par display which led to a third consecutive draw and allowed Manchester United to extend their lead at the top of the table to seven points after they had come from behind to win at West Ham earlier in the day.

Wenger, however, challenged the squad to show the necessary character not to allow the bitter disappointments of a spell which saw Carling Cup final failure at Wembley swiftly followed by European exit and FA Cup defeat at United to hang over them for the remainder of a campaign which had promised so much.

“You cannot worry about yesterday and lose the targets you have in front of you,” the Arsenal boss said.

“That is part of our job and mental strength as well, to deal with all these things.”

Wenger added: “I had not seen most of the players for two weeks and we got them back altogether on Friday morning for the first time, so it was very difficult to predict what would happen.

“Players have come back from international duty and they are not sharp – half of the team has not recovered.”

Arsenal had started brightly, with fit-again Theo Walcott causing Rovers plenty of concern.

However, the tone for another afternoon of frustration was set when chance after chance went begging, England midfielder Jack Wilshere the chief culprit when he sidefooted wide from 12 yards.

As tensions mounted among the disgruntled Emirates Stadium faithful, Rovers – who had not won since January 23 and had lost five of their previous eight – grew into their game plan.

Indeed, Steven Nzonzi was unfortunate to see his backward header drop just wide at the end of the first half when Manuel Almunia got nowhere near a long punt into the Arsenal penalty area.

The midfielder, though, would not finish the game after a clumsy two-footed challenge on Laurent Koscielny resulted in a straight red card from referee Phil Dowd.

Yet even the introduction of captain Cesc Fabregas, who had been nursing a hamstring problem, could not spark the Gunners into life, as Nicklas Bendtner saw a late effort blocked on the line by Michel Salgado.