Jack Wilshere thinks Troy Deeney was wrong to question Arsenal’s character, after Watford beat the Gunners 2-1 on Saturday.

Following Arsenal’s defeat to the Hornets, Deeney called out the Gunners and said their defeat came from not having any ‘cojones’, while Watford brought the fight to them.

Wilshere refuted such claims and believes Arsenal do have the mental strength for success. He said: “As a player if your attitude is questioned, it’s horrible,” reports the Daily Star.

“I look around this team and you can’t question our character. People try and put us down, they always have. I don’t think the comments were justified. I don’t think we can look back and question our character.

“I am sure individually players are disappointed – no one wants to hear those comments. But players are entitled to their opinions and to talk. That’s part of the modern day game and we have to deal with that.”

Wilshere evidently has belief in the side’s mental strength, even if that same optimism isn’t shared by many around the club at the moment. It has felt recently that if Arsenal concede once, they’re more likely to concede again than score one in reply.

After the last embarrassing result against Liverpool, Arsenal did bounce back and won a number of matches over the following month and a half, only dropping points to Chelsea. However, now the Gunners are back to square one, and have put themselves back under pressure once again.

Arguably, the important thing isn’t to be able to continually bounce back, but to avoid the setbacks in the first place. Right now, Arsenal have no choice, as the loss has already happened. It’s just about making sure that Thursday night’s match isn’t another one they need to recover from.