Arsenal thumped by Inter

Arsene Wenger blamed defensive errors for his team's Champions League humiliation at the hands of Inter Milan last night and challenged his men to repair the damage against Manchester United this weekend.

Arsenal crashed to their biggest defeat in the competition when goals by Julio Ricardo Cruz, Andy van der Meyde and Okafemi Martins in the opening 41 minutes ended the contest before half-time. To add insult to injury, Thierry Henry missed a penalty when Arsenal were only two down.

A trip to Old Trafford on Sunday now beckons and Highbury manager Wenger is determined that his team will bounce back in the Premiership clash.

He said:'We gave away the first cheap goal from a throw-in and that allowed them to take possession and made the game easy for them.

'The second turning point was the penalty and the difference between 2-1 and 2-0 is a big one, especially as they went on to get a third.

'We made defensive mistakes, but in the first 15 minutes we made errors when we chose the wrong thing to do; we might have shot at goal and instead we passed, or played in and the chances were lost.