Arsenal midfielder Andrey Arshavin believes fatigue played a role in Saturday’s English Premier League game, against Fulham.

Speaking to his official website, the Russia International explained that the tough mid-week Champions League game against Borussia Dortmund took a lot out of the players adding that they were disappointed after the game as they consider the result as two points dropped rather than one gained.

Asked about his own performance, the 30-year old said that it’s not easy to come in and perform after not featuring for a number of weeks, saying that he wants to improve in upcoming games so as to be useful for the team.

Arshavin could again start tomorrow as the Gunners host Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium with manager Arsene Wenger saying on Saturday that he will be forced to rest key players ahead of the busy Christmas period.

On the Fulham game, Arshavin said:

I think that the result, and the game in general, was influenced by a lack of freshness.

Arsenal had a tough game in the Champions League against Dortmund. I guess the guys didn’t have enough time to restore their strength.

[Discussing Thomas Vermaelen's goals in the dressing room?] No. We were talking about other things.

Everybody was upset by the loss of points today. We did not want this to happen.

And we are not planning to lose any more points in the upcoming games. It’s especially annoying when it happens at home, in front of our fans.

[My performance?] To be totally honest, it was a bit hard to come out to play.

This is due to the fact that there was a period of not playing. I hope that in the next games I will be more useful to the team.