Arsene Wenger believes that Arsenal's defensive collapse against Anderlecht began when Mikel Arteta limped off the pitch with 30 minutes to go.

The defensive midfielder is expected to miss Sunday's match at Swansea with after picking up a hamstring injury.

Wenger confirmed following the match that he was unsure of the extent of the injury.

He said: "He has done a hamstring. I don’t know what is wrong or how long he will be out for."

After he left the pitch with the score at 3-1, the Gunners conceded a further two times to result in the humiliating draw with the Belgian champions.

Mikel Arteta performance vs Anderlecht

3

Tackles won

2

Interceptions

1

Foul

77

Passes

94.8 %

Pass accuracy

Source: WhoScored

And disgruntled manager Wenger has said that Arteta's influence on the game was a crucial one and he was a missing link when he left the pitch.

"I think when we lost Mikel Arteta we lost out because he was one of the few who defended well. That didn't help," said Wenger.

"Apart from that maybe we underestimated subconsciously Anderlecht and got punished. In the Champions League you need to be at the mental level or you get punished and certainly we were not."

Arteta was furious with his Arsenal team mates after the game, saying that they had 'thrown everything away'.

The Spaniard was captain for the fixture at the Emirates and had earlier converted a penalty to give his side the lead, but was powerless to stop the collapse from the sidelines.

He told Sky Sports at full-time: "We can't afford to make those mistakes, it's just not good enough.

"We had a 3-0 lead at home and we know what we're playing for. We'll analyse the mistakes and see what happened in the second half. It's not up to the level of this club.

"The main aim when you start the competition is to win the group but we have thrown everything away tonight. You can't do that in this competition."

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