ARSENE WENGER looked back over his side's dramatic draw with Saints and admitted: I was glad of a point.

There is little doubt the Gunners were suffering something of a hangover following their defeat against Manchester United.

But Saints were superb and provided just the sort of dogged resistance the defending champions didn't need.

And, after Rory Delap looked to have won it for Saints with two late headers, Wenger confessed he breathed a sigh of relief when Robin van Persie equalised deep into injury time.

He said: "I cannot say I was happy because the quality of our game was not as good as we are used to playing.

"It looked all difficult for us.

"That's down to the quality of Southampton's defending. They were well disciplined and closed us down well.

"But before the game I was worried about the hangover of last Sunday's match.

"When you are such a long time unbeaten you don't know defeat and of course it's a big shock (losing at Old Trafford) - and you could see that it was not out of the system.

"Therefore I felt our passing was more laboured, was not fluent like we can be, was not sharp.

"We did not have the same quick vision we have usually, because it was not spontaneous."

Speaking of Delap's two goals, he added: "It was too easy to score on both set pieces because we were not really in the fight for the ball.

"But we found the mental resources not to lose - the way the game went I was happy with a point. To lose would have put us into a confidence crisis. So that's why I say I am happy with a point.

"It looked (at one stage) more likely we would lose it, but we could have won it by two or three as well - even by being average."