Wenger speaks of frustrating result

"We have played the game with the right attitude and could not fault our fighting spirit, but you also have to give credit to Leyton Orient because they never gave up and fought very hard," Wenger said.

"As long as you do not score the second goal, that can happen. Overall it is a disappointment, but we are still in the competition and will now play at home.

"The most important thing is to go through. You had a match against a team which is technically superior, but fighting spirit has a chance."

Wenger, though, continued: "The most negative side of our result today is one more fixture and in fairness that is not what we needed.

"We have had problems in the cups against teams from the lower divisions to finish them off, but also we have given a lot.

"Sometimes, mentally, a breather would not be bad.

"What people forget is that since the beginning of December, we have played every three days, so sometimes to have a week where we could give the players a little breather would not be bad."

Yet Wenger did not begrudge Orient their big night at the Emirates. He said: "It will make their budget for the season, if not more, and to scrap that off would be a blow to all the smaller clubs in England.

"They suffer already, so you would not have a lot of supporters to do that (scrap replays)."