Arsenal entered the match at the Emirates on the back of two successive defeats – to Norwich in the Premier League and Schalke in the Champions League – but managed to secure three points courtesy of a late scrambled winner from Spaniard Mikel Arteta.

The match changed complexion 10 minutes from the end when QPR's Stephane Mbia was dismissed for a foolish kick at Thomas Vermaelen, and Wenger acknowledged his team had struggled at times.

"When you lose two games the confidence goes quickly, for us today the most important thing was to win the game and it was a fight against a good QPR side and a fight against the nerves as well," Wenger told Sky Sports.

"You could see the confidence was not completely there. We were serious and it was important not to make mistakes and to take one of our chances, and that's what happened.

"It became easier when Mbia was sent off. Apart from that, I feel the team sometimes has to go through that and come out with the points, and that's what we did today."

Wenger was pleased with the performance of Jack Wilshere, after the England international managed almost 70 minutes in his first appearance for 17 months.

"If you consider he was out for 17 months, quite positive," Wenger said of the performance. "Of course, he still lacks the rhythm of that level but he will get that with competition."

The afternoon was soured, however, with Gervinho suffering an ankle injury that saw him stretchered off late.

"It's an ankle problem and how damaged the ankle is we will have to wait 24 hours to know more but it doesn't look good," Wenger said.

QPR boss Mark Hughes, meanwhile, was left fuming by Arteta's goal, and claimed the midfielder was offside twice leading up to the close-range strike.

"When the referee (Anthony Taylor) sees it again he will understand he has made a huge mistake as the lad is clearly offside on two occasions leading up to the goal," Hughes said.

"When you're in the situation we're in, with not many points on the board and down to 10 men, you need officials to get the key decisions to help us along the way and we didn't get it from them.

"I've been in to see the referee and he has conjured up some story about Ryan Nelsen that, because he left the field of play he played everybody onside, but I've no idea what he's going on about because Ryan Nelsen didn't at any stage leave the field of play.

"He'll have to explain that one to me because that has hurt us."