Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has hailed the side’s mental strength after they beat Fulham 3-1 at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
Goals from strike-duo Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski (x2), gave Arsenal the three-points in the first London derby of the season as Fulham had to settle with just a Darren Bent goal late on in the second-half.
The Gunners have had a shaky summer with the lack of signings and then opening day defeat to Aston Villa at the Emirates, but since then, they have beaten Fenerbache 3-0 away and now Fulham 3-1 away and Szczesny believes the side have shown their mental strength to bounce back from the Villa loss.
“It was a really good game,” the goalkeeper said. “Obviously with the circumstances, it wasn’t very enjoyable to play in the first half when it was raining so badly but we enjoyed the performance, we enjoyed the win. We needed to bounce back after the defeat on Saturday against Villa so we’re very happy today.
“It was really important for us to get back on track as early as we could. We had a very good performance midweek in Turkey.
“We showed that we are very strong mentally and recovered very well. Hopefully we can keep that going now.”
Arsenal will have their second London derby next weekend as they host fierce-rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Szczesny has admitted that he cannot wait for the match, however, he knows that the second-leg against Fenerbache on Tuesday is their main priority.
“We want to finish the job against Fenerbahce at home and then we’ve got a massive one on Sunday,” he added. “I’m sure if we can keep performing like we did today and on Wednesday night, we should be just fine.”
