Arsene Wenger defends substituting 'tired' Joel Campbell in Arsenal loss to Swansea
Arsene Wenger has defended his decision to substitute Joel Campbell in Arsenal's loss to Swansea, claiming he was concerned the forward would tire despite his impressive display.
Campbell started his first league game in a month and was Arsenal’s best player throughout the 64 minutes he was on the field, scoring the opener in the first half and combining well with Hector Bellerin.
Wenger’s decision to withdraw the 23-year-old, rather than the struggling Alexis Sanchez or Olivier Giroud, was booed by an Emirates crowd increasingly frustrated by their side’s display after Swansea had equalised.
However the Arsenal manager believes he was right to take off Campbell as he felt he was running out of energy.
"Campbell hasn’t played for a while and he started to tire," Wenger said. "He played against a very young left back and I thought Welbeck could give him some problems with his runs in behind.
"These kinds of decisions don’t mean that Campbell did badly. I think he did quite well tonight. I also think that there was room on that flank to be very dangerous."
It was Swansea who would go on to find the winner, Ashley Williams pouncing after Petr Cech had flapped at a free-kick from Gylfi Sigurdsson, meaning Arsenal lost out on a crucial opportunity to gain ground on Tottenham and Leicester, neither of whom won in midweek.
Wenger bemoaned the bad luck of his side, who hit the woodwork three times but ultimately struggled to break down Swansea in the latter stages of the match.
He said: "It was a very unlucky defeat because we created many chances, we were unlucky in our finishing and they only had two shots on target which were both goals.
"It’s a very disappointing result. The players are very down but we have to respond to that."
ArticleWenger defends Campbell substitution: He was tiredArsenalArsene WengerJoel CampbellPremier League