Wenger: Arsenal 'lacked a bit of creativity' against Middlesbrough

Arsenal gaffer Arsene Wenger bemoaned his side's stodgy showing in Saturday's goalless draw against Middlesbrough, the tenured bench boss claiming fatigue and personnel hampered the Gunners' ability to craft chances as freely as they had in their past six league matches - all wins.

"We did not have our usual pace in our combinations, and not enough sharpness in our movement," said Wenger, who had to settle for a solitary point on his 67th birthday. "In the end, we couldn't win it.

"At least we were intelligent enough not to lose it."

"We lacked a bit of creativity today," he added.

That single point was enough to push the north London side top of the table, one point clear of idle Manchester City, which meets Southampton on Sunday.

Arsenal, coming into the contest on the back of a 6-0 annihilation of Ludogorets in the Champions League, looked ponderous in attack, only able to turn 75 percent possession into two shots on target from inside the penalty area.

Wenger highlighted the absence of midfield playmaker Santi Cazorla - who suffered a knock to his Achilles in midweek - as a major reason for the laborious showing; the more combative duo of Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny started in his stead.

"You always miss Cazorla. At home, from deep midfield into the final third, his pass is always quick and accurate," Wenger said.

"When you play at home you still would like to manage to win, but we couldn't. We could have lost the game as well in the first half," he noted, showing respect for what was an impressive attacking display from Boro in the opening 45 minutes.

Were it not for the heroics of Petr Cech in the first half - and the profligacy of Alvaro Negredo in the second - Arsenal could have been dead and buried by the half-time whistle.

At the end of the day, however, the onus was on the home club to win the encounter, a point not lost on Wenger.

"We are used to scoring, we are an offensive team. We had five, six offensive players on the pitch in the end, but we didn't manage to score. So it's a bit frustrating.

"We have to find a way to be efficient even when the game is like that."