Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker is hoping that the club can continue to surprise people by remaining at the top of the Premier League for as long as possible.
The Gunners were already written off after they lost 3-1 at home to Aston Villa on the opening day of the new season, but since then, they have only lost one match and that came in the Champions League against last year’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund.
Arsene Wenger’s men currently sit top of the tree ahead of Liverpool, who they play next weekend at the Emirates Stadium, by two points and Mertesacker is hopeful that the players can keep performing and surprising the footballing world.
“We wanted to come back as quickly as possible as a strong unit. What we showed was good enough to respond,” said Mertesacker “But there will be more tests to come and that will be crucial for the rest of the season.
“We want to surprise people more and more, that is what we need to do but we do not look too much at the other sides. We are in a strong and interesting position, so we are aware of it and try to keep it – but that is the difficult thing, to keep it.”
The German international was also full of praise for Wojciech Szczesny, who made two superb saves at the weekend whilst the score was still 1-0 to Arsenal.
“We had a decent goalkeeper as well, he saved three times when they were in a decent position,” he said.
“We do not need the goalkeeper that much, but in those situations we do need him desperately. He did a good job, but the whole team did – and that is his job, to save us sometimes.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
