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LIVERPOOL. – Arsenal’s 14-match unbeaten English Premier League soccer run might have convinced manager Arsene Wenger that they had developed the resolve needed sustain a title challenge but there was little sign of that quality in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at Everton.Wenger said his side had struggled to deal with Everton’s physical approach as the Merseysiders fought back to win 2-1 thanks to Ashley Williams’ late header at Goodison Park.

It had all been going so smoothly for Arsenal when the in-form Alexis Sanchez had put them ahead with his 12th league goal of the season from a deflected free kick after 20 minutes.

But Everton upped the intensity levels and clawed their way back into the game through fullback Seamus Coleman’s header just before halftime and Williams won it in the 86th minute.

“…we faced many physical challenges and that disturbed our game but we were a bit unlucky to lose as well,” Wenger told BT Sport television in a familiar refrain for Arsenal fans who have become used to seeing successive title challenges fall away.

“They (Everton) were a bit scared at first but they got their confidence. We did fight, I cannot fault that… Maybe we made it easy for them when they became more physical.”

On whether his side allowed the game to get away, Wenger said: “No, I think we have to look at ourselves. We lost the game because I feel we started well and after that maybe we lost a bit of urgency because we were a bit too comfortable and then Everton made it very physical.

“Overall, I believe that from then on it disturbed our game and we created less flow going forward. In the end, we unfortunately didn’t take our chances or two. We didn’t create too many but we had clear-cut chances in the game that we didn’t take. After that you can be caught away from home on a corner like that.”

On whether Mustafi was missed, Wenger responded by saying: “ No. I think Gabriel did well. I don’t think it is Gabriel’s fault on the corners. Not on the first goal, the responsibility is somewhere else.”

And Wenger pinned the blame for Arsenal’s defeat against Everton on Mesut Ozil after the German’s dreadful second half miss.

The key moment in the game came in the 10th minute of the second half when, with the score locked at 1-1, a totally unmarked Ozil skied Sanchez’s pull back over the bar from just inside the penalty area.

“We had some very good chances, especially from Mesut,’ said Wenger afterwards. ‘They made the game very physical then we lost our flow.

“Unfortunately we didn’t take our chances. We didn’t create many but we had clear-cut chances we didn’t make the most of.”

Ozil also took the brunt of the criticism in the aftermath of Arsenal’s defeat to Everton. The Gunners playmaker was slammed by a large section of fans for his contribution — or lack of it — in the final third but pictures arguably show he was also at fault for Ashley Williams’ winning goal in the 86th minute.

At first glance, Williams appeared to leap well before heading powerfully past Petr Cech in the Arsenal goal but Ozil could be seen ducking out of the aerial challenge in the dying moments. – Reuters.