Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says 4-0 defeat to Liverpool will hurt ‘for the rest of my life’

Arsene Wenger has admitted that Arsenal’s 4-0 thrashing at Liverpool in August will hurt “for the rest of my life” but urged his players to set the record straight when the teams meet on Friday night.

The Gunners were branded “pathetic” and accused of lacking “respect for the shirt” by Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville as a host of experts delivered a withering assessment of an insipid performance on Merseyside.

Arsenal host Jurgen Klopp’s side at Emirates Stadium tomorrow night in the reverse Premier League fixture seeking to climb above their opponents and move back into the top four.

Goalkeeper Petr Cech described the loss as one the worst he has ever experienced and when asked where it ranked for Wenger, the Frenchman told Standard Sport: “Well, when you have such a long career as I have, you have some defeats unfortunately that hurt you for the rest of your life.

“I believe what is interesting in football is you always have a time to make up for it. When you can put things right, do it. So, let’s focus on what is in front of us and turn up on Friday night with a completely different performance.

“I don’t worry about the motivation. The motivation is there. This squad has a good mentality and it is about us, to make sure we are on top of our game. We must play with pace and a determined attitude.”

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain started for Arsenal in the first game, playing 62 minutes before being substituted. After rejecting the offer of a new contract to stay in north London, the 24-year-old joined Liverpool just four days later for £40million but Wenger insisted the decision to include him against the club he was about to sign for was not one he regretted.

“It would be not fair to put the defeat at Liverpool, where the whole team had a bad performance, on one player,” he said. After that, on the other side, you analyse ‘did you make mistakes or not?’ You cannot go home and say everything was perfect when you lose like we did.”

Pushed on whether Oxlade-Chamberlain, who made 198 appearances for Arsenal during a six-year stay, would get a good reception from supporters, Wenger replied: “I don’t know. I rate Alex highly and he knows that. After that, you want all the players to be respected who have played for us.”

Wenger is set to be boosted by the return of Shkodran Mustafi after the defender missed the previous five matches with a thigh problem.

Mustafi’s potential inclusion could instigate a return to a three-man defence with a need to stifle the League’s top goalscorer Mohamed Salah but Wenger is wary of Liverpool’s unpredictability, having averaged four changes per League line-up this season – more than any other team.

Klopp made six alterations against West Brom and another four to the team which faced Bournemouth. Wenger said: “I believe that Liverpool is very good going forward so you need overall a good defensive performance.

“I have to analyse that well and you have to guess a little bit who will play. It is not always the same - it depends on their personnel. They have plenty of offensive players and looking at them recently, they have changed a lot their teams so it is difficult to guess.

“The fact we are adaptable to both systems means it will be down to me to make the decision. Do we play in a four or a three or a five? I have some more time to think about that.”