Arsene Wenger and Mikel Arteta vowed to fight back from the defeat suffered at the hands of London rivals Chelsea in Saturday's English Premier League game.

Gervinho struck a wonderful equalizer, after Fernando Torres had opened the scoring off a free kick, but the Gunners let themselves down yet again, conceding a soft goal from a Juan Mata set piece.

Arsenal's title credentials have been questioned after the defeat in their home ground to the Blues, who now lie top of the table, seven points ahead of seventh-placed Arsenal. But Wenger believes his side are capable of coming back from the disappointment.

"The players are very frustrated," the Frenchman who completed 16 years at Arsenal over the weekend said. "They have a great attitude, they are very disappointed.

"I can understand that. But I think we will recover from it. It can happen in the season, but they are disappointed because they lost a game they should not have lost."

Wenger was disappointed with the way his side gave away the goals, in a game in which Arsenal should have, at the very least, earned a point if not all three. "I feel we played against a good team, but we gave the game away," he said. "They had three shots on target and scored two goals, from soft set-pieces.

"Defensively we were just not at the level you have to be in a game like that, which is where we were punished today. For the rest, we have shown quality and spirit but we have to show more personality and authority on the goals we conceded."

Wenger knows all about criticism and the Arsenal manager admitted his side would be written off by many after the defeat. "Yes, maybe, but we have to deal with that," he said. "I can completely understand people's opinion, what is important is the personality you show in a big game.

"That is where is some areas we were not at the (right) level."

Arteta was also disappointed in the manner in which the goals were conceded. "It's a hard one to take but we've conceded from three set pieces in the last two games. That's cost us points and it's not good enough," Arteta said.

"I don't think it's something to do with the defence. It's about an individual defensive set-up in the game which is a free kick or a corner. Today we haven't defended well enough and we've conceded two goals that have cost us the game.

"It's everyone's responsibility. You can't fault one player on that. We have to clean the lines up quickly and you can't just allow runners like that in the box."

The Spanish midfielder, however, was confident of bouncing back from the loss, after Arsenal more than outplayed both Manchester Coty and Chelsea over the past week, even if they might not have garnered the points to back their performances. "We have played probably against some of the best teams in the league and haven't been battered or overplayed at all," he said.

"I think we've been better than Chelsea in the 90 minutes so that's very positive. But obviously after a defeat, the first one of the season at home, it hurts.

"We will bounce back because we know how important it is now to get the three points in the Champions League."

Arsenal next take on Olympiakos at home in Europe's premier competition on Wednesday.