Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker has praised the defence of the team after they had to reshuffle due to the injury sustained by Laurent Koscielny.
The Frenchman suffered a nasty kick to the head from a Fenerbache player during the side’s 3-0 victory in Turkey and that meant Carl Jenkinson had to come on to replace him, meaning Bacary Sagna had to move from right-back to centre-back in order to provide cover.
Despite the change at the back, Arsenal still managed to defend well and even kept a clean sheet which gives them a fantastic chance of qualifiying for the Champions League group stages.
German defender Per Mertesacker was delighted after the game with the back-four’s performance.
“We tried to adapt,” Mertesacker told Arsenal Player. “Carl Jenkinson came on for the second consecutive time. We’re still alive.
“Laurent came back and he’s alright so far. He’s been to hospital and now we need a good recovery because on Saturday we’re going to face Fulham away. That will be a massive game. We don’t want to drop more points [in] the Premier League.
“I think we just have to stick together. That mental part is the most important part for us. Unfortunately we’ve got a few injuries now but we have to stick together even more, try to find our spirit back and tonight I think we did it well.
“We have to respond again on Saturday [to show] that we are a good team.
Mertesacker also admitted that he is loving the role of captain whilst both Thomas Vermaelen and Mikel Arteta recover from injuries.
“It’s nice,” he said. “[This was] the first win this season so we’ll just keep on going.
“It’s an unusual situation for me. We have lots of players who take responsibility. It’s not only me. We have a lot of players who are important for us.
“Unfortunately we lost Mikel and Thomas due to injury so everybody steps in. It’s not only me.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
