Arsene Wenger has brushed off Troy Deeney’s ‘cojones’ comments, insisting that he knows his players better than anyone.

Wenger believes that Deeney’s ‘cajone’ comments were probably made in the heat of the moment after Watford beat Arsenal 2-1 at Vicarage Road on Saturday evening.

“Yes (his comments hurt). But I know who my players really are. In the last seven games we had six wins and one draw,” said the boss during his press conference.

“Comments are part of the modern game.

“I love my players and I trust their strength of character to respond.”

He later added, “After the game sometimes the enthusiasm of what happened can go a bit overboard.”

Deeney scored the Hornets’ penalty to bring the scoreline level and was obviously feeling a bit too big for his boots post-match.

While what the striker said was probably right, since he pointed out that if you go into your first challenge against an Arsenal player with a certain amount of force they’ll back right off, it’s not usually the done thing to be so loose-lipped when it comes to your team’s tactics. Especially when they involve deliberately going in to for crunching tackles.

However, as I’ve already said, the 29-year-old probably wasn’t wrong. This current Arsenal side do seem a bit spineless. After being pretty comfortable at 1-0 up, to capitulate just because the opposition scored a penalty is a bit… pathetic.

The Gunners face Red Star Belgrade in Serbia in the Europa League on Thursday night so if there’s a time for them to find their cojones, it’s now.