Gunners given loud wake-up call after slipping to defeat

Two late breakaway goals from Matheus condemned the Gunners to defeat – after they had been harshly denied a penalty as Carlos Vela was booked for diving having seemingly been tripped by Alberto Rodriguez.

Djourou focused on his own team's failings, though, and said: "It's crazy. We had the game under control and two counter-attacks and silly, silly mistakes – we can be disappointed because we should have won the game easily, it's very hard to take.

"A point would have qualified us so it's a shame to concede goals like that, I just cannot understand.

"We have to look again, that shouldn't happen. It was a lack of concentration, the team needs to concentrate and do better than that.

"The team needs to know that now we have to wake up, it was a big wake-up call.

"We have a big game against Partizan and we have to win that to qualify for the knock-out stage."

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba believes the players have to focus on winning games rather than off-field changes at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea have seen their Premier League form suffer with recent defeats to Liverpool, Sunderland and Birmingham and the speculation following the departure of coach Ray Wilkins has added to the pressure.

With Carlo Ancelotti making it clear he is not about to depart the club in the build-up to last night's Champions League tie with MSK Zilina, a win was paramount.

And goals from Daniel Sturridge and Florent Malouda sealed a comeback 2-1 win after Bello Babatounde had opened the scoring for the visitors in the Group F tie.

Drogba said: "The manager made it clear that he is here and I think we have to focus on the games, on the results.

"We have to try to resolve our problems because we are not paying well. We don't speak about this (speculation over Ancelotti's future). We stayed focused on the game we lost against Birmingham. We wanted to go back to winning ways."

Drogba admitted the players missed Wilkins but he and Sturridge also gave their backing to Michael Emenalo who has moved up top fill the void.

"Of course we miss Ray but the players are still the same," added Drogba. "If we are losing it is not because Ray has gone, it is down to the players."

Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic have been rested for Manchester United's Champions League showdown at Rangers tonight.

Although the central defensive duo trained at Carrington yesterday, neither were part of Sir Alex Ferguson's squad.

Chris Smalling and Jonny Evans are expected to deputise.

Star men Rafael van der Vaart (ankle) and Gareth Bale (shoulder) are both doubts for Tottenham Hotspur's game with Werder Bremen tonight.