Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says fitness problems and bad luck were two reasons why his side suffered a 4-3 home defeat against Liverpool this afternoon.
Just like last season, the Gunners kicked off their Premier League campaign with a home defeat as the Frenchman admits that they may also struggle next week against Leicester City.
Arsenal fans left the Emirates Stadium in large numbers before the final whistle as they took to Twitter to vent their frustration at the end of the game.
"We are bitterly disappointed," Wenger told reporters.
"It was a contrast between the two halves. We lost this game for many reasons and was one of them is [the psychological impact] of Liverpool making it 1-1 just before half-time.
"The second one is that physically we are not capable of maintaining the level, because not all the players have the same level of preparation.
"Maybe we lacked a bit of experience but if you look well at the goals, I don't think it was necessarily the inexperienced players that cost us the goals today.
"We prepared well the players we have in but I think you have to consider we have been a bit unlucky as well.
"We have lost [Per] Mertesacker and Gabriel [Paulista] in preparation, and [Laurent] Koscielny is not fit. You have to sometimes accept that you cannot control absolutely everything, even if you try to be as intelligent as possible.
"I don't know [how long it will take to get everyone ready].
"We have to be ready next week because we go to Leicester. But we'll see first what we can do with the players who are preparing at the moment and how many players are injured today. Can they recover for next week? I don't know."
