Wenger salutes Gunners' spirit

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The Gunners hit the bar early on through Abou Diaby's deflected header, but despite plenty of possession could not find a away through with Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor missing two good chances in the second half.

"We gave everything for 90 minutes and restricted them to nothing," said the Arsenal boss. "There was a great desire and I could not fault the spirit, but we did lack some creativity in the final ball and some sharpness because we had played a difficult game on Wednesday night at Everton."

The Gunners may have not lost in 10 Barclays Premier League games, but they remain well adrift in the title race and, crucially, outside the top four behind Aston Villa, who also could only manage a goalless draw.

Some boos rang out around the stadium at the final whistle, and Wenger can "understand" the frustrations of the supporters.

He said: "Fans want to win the game and when you do not win, they are not happy, we understand that."

Wenger, whose side face an FA Cup replay against Cardiff on Tuesday night, defended his decision to leave in-form Robin van Persie on the bench.

"It was done not to get him injured," said Wenger.

"We have to be cautious with him and he had played every minute against Cardiff and also Everton.

"We have bad experiences when we pushed him to play lots of games."