Toure: We were scared of Hull

The Arsenal star said the Gunners struggled to cope psychologically with everyone predicting an easy victory against a so-called lesser team but that valuable lessons were learned.

Arsenal face FC Porto in the Champions League tomorrow night looking to bounce back from Saturday's shock home defeat against newly-promoted opponents who came from a goal down to win 2-1.

Although Toure is confident Arsenal will win their Group G clash, the defender admitted: "We were scared to play the Hull game, I tell you.

"Sometimes people play the game before it even starts and that is the problem. In football there are no small teams.

"The Premier League is a really hard competition. When I play against Manchester United everyone is thinking it is going to be a tight game but when you play against Hull it is harder because everybody expects you to win.

"From the first minute they are expecting you to score but it is not like that. We were really focused but I say I was scared because there are no easy games.

"If you play a team of Under-17s thinking you will beat them easily you will struggle. That is my spirit."

Toure rejected the idea that Arsenal do not have enough experience to sustain a title challenge at home and in Europe.

He said: "When Manchester United started badly nobody said that about them. We had a really hard game last Saturday and we just need to have a view of what we did wrong.

"Of course we believe we can win the Champions League. We have the quality and the spirit."

Manager Arsene Wenger agreed with his centre-half.

He said: "Maybe we struggled a litle bit in the first half against Hull by not being at our best. Maybe we were guilty after leading 1-0.

"We thought we had done the most difficult part because they didn't look very dangerous. I believe we have to not make too much of it.

"We lost the game. We did not want to lose of course but we have enough strength within the club and within the team to deal with that. It can happen but it cannot be repeated."

Arsenal responded superbly after losing 1-0 at Fulham earlier this season with three League wins, a draw at Dynamo Kiev and the Carling Cup thrashing of Sheffield United — and Wenger is expecting a similar reaction now.

"It's important we respond well with an outstanding game tomorrow night and show our strengths — that's all you can do," said Wenger.

"The next 48 hours, that will be our job — to repair the damage done mentally and psychologically by the defeat because that was not an expected one."

The Gunners have conceded only four goals in the Premier League this season but three of those have come from set-pieces. It is a statistic that is among the chief concerns for the manager. "It is a weakness in our team, of course, but that is linked with the level of concentration," said Wenger.

"You can work for hours on the training pitch but if you don't attack the ball on the day of the game — we were nearly caught on the corner before Cousin scored where the guy got in front of Emmanuel Adebayor.

"I believe that is more down to how much you want the ball."

Arsenal began their Champions League campaign with 1-1 draw in Kiev while Porto top of the table after a 3-1 win over Fenerbahce.

Given there are only six games in the group, it is perhaps a measure of the difficulty of winning the domestic title that Wenger feels his side have more margin for error in Europe than in England.

He said: "You are always under extra pressure and tomorrow will be a vital game."

Samir Nasri returns to the Arsenal squad. The French midfielder has been out with a knee injury since late August but is available to face the Portuguese side at the Emirates.