Moussa Sissoko
Alan Pardew: “We missed Moussa Sissoko (suspended) and we didn’t get the balance right.
“But we didn’t play well. They kept coming out on top on physical challenges and they played well.
“I don’t think many teams could have coped with them today.
"We were a bit sloppy in our passing and a couple of goals were really poor on our part.
“We caught them on a very good day. The front three were rested for midweek and I think that showed. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was outstanding and he caused us a lot of problems in our midfield area.
“You know with Arsenal that they always give you a chance. If we’d got another goal at 3-1 it would have brought back nasty memories for them but it wasn’t to be.”