Per - We answered Wembley questions

Per Mertesacker believes Arsenal will take confidence from their dramatic victory over Wigan Athletic when they compete for the FA Cup next weekend.

The Germany defender hauled the Gunners back into their semi-final with a header in the 81st minute before Lukasz Fabianski's heroics in the penalty shoot-out took them into the final.

Mertesacker says it took mental strength to deal with the pressure of going behind in a semi-final and he feels the team answered their critics by gaining their first win at the new Wembley after defeats there in 2009 and 2011.

"That was a tough game and you expect a lot from your side especially when you play against a Championship side," Mertesacker said. "You think we'll just make it but when you drop that five, 10 per cent of mental power it's hard. When they scored the penalty everyone was not sure what was going on. Everything was questioned.

"We tried really hard and it looked like we could not score at this stage and I thought something special has to come to keep up with them and to keep up with our targets.

"I was really happy when I scored, it was something really special. We took that strength and that mental strength to go to the final. But during that game it felt really strange so everyone was questioning himself because the obvious target was to get through that semi-final easily."

Arsenal's league form saw a marked improvement after the semi-final and Mertesacker says morale is high within the squad as they bid to end their season with silverware.

"On one hand we've got the confidence back because we've secured that fourth position," he said. "But as well you have that pressure that came from the semi-final and it will come back to the final.

"I think we raised our confidence so much in the last couple of weeks that I think we're going to make it. It's a bit different now to the semi. Now we want to finish it properly this season.

'Our expectations now are that we're going to win the cup. That is in my mind."