West Ham boss Slaven Bilic has walked back criticism of his players after defeat by Arsenal.

Bilic wrote for the London Evening Standard: "My comments after the Arsenal match, about us losing our intensity in training, have provoked some reaction, as I expected. I spoke honestly, as I always try to do — and I am not one for making excuses, because the fans can always see through that.

"I would take this opportunity for the first time since then to make one thing clear, though: when I talked about the loss of intensity, some people thought I was pointing a finger at my staff.

"That was wrong. I think I said, four or five times, that it is me and it is my job to take responsibility. Believe me, we're not having a jolly-up in training... no, no, no, it's not like that.

"The main reason why we lost that intensity is that we have had so many injuries all in a small space of time. Then, because we had three games in a week, we had to balance things, not walk on egg-shells exactly, but to be careful in training.

"I would like to clarify this now. I was not criticising my staff. My reason was not to moan because we had lost to Arsenal but to provoke a reaction so we can get back that intensity."