Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish was disappointed with their defending in defeat at Arsenal.

McLeish felt the early goals his side gave away were "pretty lamentable" in the 3-0 reverse.

He said: "From our point of view, it was very weak defending.

"At 2-0 down in the second half, we said if we could get a goal back then we could have made Arsenal nervous and we did have a couple of chances.

"But we have to be realistic if people thought we would come here and win."

Villa have an eight-point cushion above the relegation zone, but their next two fixtures are at home to Chelsea and then away at Liverpool.

McLeish said: "There are a few teams who have less points than us, but we need to get ourselves a bit further up the table.

"We have a game next week and have to be positive.

"We have got to concentrate on the glass being half full rather than half empty."