LONDON -- Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted he forgot to appoint a stand-in captain for the second half against Manchester City on Sunday after Laurent Koscielny went off injured.
No Arsenal player wore the captain's armband after the break as they rallied for a 2-2 draw at the Emirates Stadium, with Koscielny having been substituted because of an Achilles problem.
When asked who had been made captain in place of Koscielny during the half-time break, Wenger told a news conference: "I don't remember. It's a good question. Nobody asked me who is captain."
Premier League rules state that a team must have an appointed captain on the pitch, although Arsenal are unlikely to face any sanctions.
Koscielny has been wearing the armband this season in place of Per Mertesacker, who was appointed club captain last summer but has yet to make an appearance after recovering from a long-term knee injury. Petr Cech is also a vice-captain but is sidelined with a calf injury.
Mertesacker could be in the squad against West Ham on Wednesday but is unlikely to start despite Koscielny having been ruled out.
And Wenger said he had yet to decide who would wear the armband on Wednesday, although Theo Walcott is the likely choice if he starts.
"I will have 24 hours to think about that," Wenger said.
The Arsenal boss also hit back at Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville for saying that Koscielny should have kept playing despite his injury on Sunday.
The France international has been sidelined with the same injury in the past, and Wenger said it flared up again during the international break.
"He has an old Achilles problem that he maintains always here by working," he said. "So when he goes away with the French national team they work on different grounds, sometimes on hard surfaces. That made it worse.
"He came back with a small Achilles problem, and made it worse during the game. He wanted to play and to stay on, but he couldn't."