Cologne should not have been awarded penalty - Arsene Wenger

Arsene Wenger saw his Arsenal side secure top spot in their Europa League group despite falling to defeat at Cologne thanks to what he sarcastically deemed a "very nice penalty".

The Gunners will go into next month's draw as Group H winners as a goalless stalemate between Red Star Belgrade and BATE Borisov meant the 1-0 loss at the RheinEnergieStadion was still enough to give them an unassailable four-point lead.

The game was settled courtesy of a controversial second-half penalty as Mathieu Debuchy was adjudged to have fouled Sehrou Guirassy in the area. Guirassy stepped up to convert the resulting spot-kick and give Cologne maximum points which kept them in the hunt to go through with Arsenal. Wenger was not amused by the decision of Russian official Vladislav Bezborodov but did praise the hosts, who sit bottom of the Bundesliga without a league win all season, for their defensive resilience.

"We had a lot of possession," he said. "We lost the game to one shot basically. It was a very nice penalty that we have to take on board. It was honestly not a penalty at all.

"We missed a little bit of the accuracy in our passing in the final third that is required to score more goals.

"We had plenty of dangerous situations but we always missed a little something to finish our chances.

"I must also say that Cologne defended with spirit, with commitment and overall the crowd was absolutely fantastic for them." Arsenal's best chance fell to Francis Coquelin, with the midfielder hitting the post in the first half as Wenger's side failed to score an away goal in Europe for the first time since 2014.

"I must say that the attitude was good," added Wenger.

"It took us some time to inject some pace into the game. In the second half, it was much quicker. The pitch was difficult tonight, and the players were [struggling] because of it, but I cannot fault the preparation or the concentration of the players."

Although he hailed topping the group as a job done, Wenger conceded it would only be a good thing if they landed a favourable draw in the round of 32.

Asked what securing top spot meant to him, Wenger replied: "I don't know. I will tell you after the draw.

"You feel you have done the job to finish top of the group. We now play our final game at home against BATE Borisov without much at stake, other than the fact that we want to win the game. What does it really mean? I don't know. It's what we wanted."

From SkySport