Per Mertesacker has insisted that Arsenal deserve some praise for the way in which they battled late on against Watford, but admits his side currently "lack the killer instinct" required.
The Gunners fell to a shock 2-1 defeat at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday to see their hopes of lifting the FA Cup for a third year running come to an end.
Arsenal have now won just one of their last seven games in all competitions, but Mertesacker is adamant that an inability to put the ball in the net, rather than any confidence issues, is to blame for the barren run.
"Obviously we wanted to win and we came out in a strong way," The Sun quotes him as saying. "But what we do lack at the moment is we need to score at some point. It looks like we play, and play and play until the opposing team scores. That is something we need to work on.
"We had the opportunities and the possibilities when they were 2-0 up to come back and we kept going. You have to give us credit because we kept going and created chance after chance. But at the moment we lack that killer instinct.
"We need to work on that if we want to be successful in the Premier League and the Champions League. I think we looked pretty confident, how we worked together, how we played and how we defended."
Next up for Arsenal is a Champions League last-16 second-leg meeting with European champions Barcelona on Wednesday night.
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