Arsenal’s experienced defensive midfielder Mathieu Flamini has had his say following a disappointing 3-0 defeat at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday evening.

The 31-year-old, making his fourth appearance of the campaign, struggled to maintain a consistently high standard in the middle of the park, especially with youth players Glen Kamara and Ismael Bennacer around him.

Questions have been asked of Flamini in recent months as many don’t feel he is good enough to stay on the wage bill at the Emirates Stadium.

Admittedly, he’s a useful utility player to have within the ranks, and although he is actively eager to prove his first-team credentials, it seems unlikely he’ll get a continued run of games in the starting eleven, injuries permitting.

With a tough trip to south Wales ahead on Saturday afternoon, Flamini has called for his teammates to regroup and recover sufficiently to deliver a more convincing performance against Garry Monk’s side, easier said than done.

As quoted by the Arsenal website, Flamini said: “It’s one of the positive things, you can say, playing every three days, that we can make sure we rectify the direction.”

The midfielder said the team need to make sure they “forget about this [loss]” and “move forward” in the Premier League, where they’ll be aspiring to maintain an impressive title challenge in the weeks and months to come.

Although they did suffer defeat, and lost two important players in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott, the Frenchman also took time out to praise the club’s travelling supporters.

“They [the fans] have always been behind us when we win or we lose, of course it’s important for us to feel them behind us. They have been supporting us once again until the last minute again, so thanks to them.”

The travelling support was terrific on an otherwise horrible Tuesday evening; we can only hope they have more to celebrated at Swansea on Saturday.