Wenger: We do not think of a catastrophe

That record breaking defeat to Manchester United, after 49 unbeaten Premiership games, is preying on Arsenal and undermining their confidence.

Wenger insists his team are mentally-strong. They will need to be in the next few weeks if they are to regain their composure and momentum. They are going to be without injured England centre-half Sol Campbell for at least a month and they face difficult away matches at Crystal Palace, Tottenham and Liverpool and, of course, have that visit to Eindhoven.

Two years ago they went to Holland-and beat PSV with a demonstration of classic attacking football. Something similar would do nicely this time because they are clearly in need of an injection of confidence.

Defeat in Eindhoven would almost certainly put them out of the competition because such a scenario would guarantee PSV top place and thus render their final game - against Panathinaikos - irrelevant for them. But not for the Greek side.

Zdenek Scasny, the Panathinaikos manager, is clearly excited by such a prospect. "For us, all the possibilities are now open for qualification," he smiled. "Arsenal have a difficult game in Holland and I don't expect the placings to be finalised until the last round of matches.

"We've now played Arsenal twice and they've not beaten us. My players now believe that if they are well prepared they can face any team in Europe."

A former Czech international midfield player and one-time manager of Sparta Prague, Scasny had certainly prepared his team well for the challenge of playing at Highbury.

They defended deeply and with discipline and diligence. Arsenal's goalscoring opportunities could be counted on one hand. One finger was all you needed to count the goalscoring chances that fell to Panathinaikos.

"I accept that they defended well, but they didn't create much," said Wenger. "They didn't take risks."

THE home side enjoyed most of the possession but much of their passing was as sluggish and unimaginative as their running. "We gave everything but I think we're suffering a bit physically at the moment," said Wenger. "We are used to being dominant with our runs but that wasn't the case last night."

It certainly wasn't. Arsenal's solitary goal owed more to the judgement of referee Luis Medina Cantelajo than anything else. He decided that Sotirios Kirgiakos had impeded Patrick Vieira in the penalty area after 16 minutes.

Thierry Henry drove the penalty home but afterwards even Wenger admitted that he'd been surprised by the referee's decision.

If the injured Campbell, watching from the stand, felt aggrieved after barely touching Wayne Rooney he must have had some sympathy with the Greek who gave the penalty away last night.

Ashley Cole's 62nd minute challenge on Dimitrios Papadopoulos was a more obvious penalty but, given the chance to equalise, the vastly experienced Angelis Basinas put his shot high and wide. He was a notable performer for Greece in Euro 2004, scoring a penalty against Portugal, but he missed when he was last at Highbury three years ago.

His second miss was a lucky escape for Arsenal, but they failed to heed the warning. In the 75th minute Loukas Vintra advanced unchallenged and hit a shot that deflected off the head of Pascal Cygan into the net. "He was just unlucky," said Wenger of the man deputising for Campbell. "For me he played well."

Arsenal still had a chance to snatch all three points but substitute Jose Antonio Reyes drove Cole's cross against goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias and, when the ball bounced out to him again, drove the rebound against the bar.

It simply wasn't Arsenal's night, but they can't afford another one like this in Eindhoven.