Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has insisted that the decision to bring Olivier Giroud off in the first half of the 1-0 defeat to Chelsea was a 'quite normal' one in his head.

Wenger opted to sacrifice Giroud for Gabriel Paulista after Per Mertesacker was given his marching orders, but his decision was met with boos from the home crowd during his side's eventual 1-0 loss.

Wenger reacted to media questions regarding the French striker in post-match conference: "You want to make a poll for every decision to see who does what?

"I made the decision and for me it was quite normal. We had to go for long distances and we needed pace to go from one goal to the other. We knew we had to drop deeper and use pace to get forward."

The Gunners lost Mertesacker to a straight red in the 18th minute before Diego Costa, who had been the subject the match-ending tackle by the German defender, netted the only goal of the game with a 23rd-minute volley from Branislav Ivanovic's cross from the right.