Per - Our confidence is flooding back

By Lloyd Webb

Per Mertesacker says Arsenal’s confidence has come flooding back over the past week.

The Gunners backed up their Capital One Cup victory against Tottenham with a 5-2 defeat of Leicester on Saturday.

Mertesacker has been pleased with the team’s displays and hopes they can continue to build momentum over the coming months.

“We were quite happy after the win in midweek,” he told Arsenal Player.“We took some of that confidence with us today and you could see that.

“There is a little room for improvement but I think we should take more confidence into the game on Tuesday in the Champions League [against Olympaicos]. Obviously it is very tight but we want to continue next weekend against Manchester United, too.”

Mertesacker started his first Premier League game in a month at Leicester, and was relieved to come away with the points after a thrilling match.

“We tried our best and in the second half we had more possession,” he said. “We expected it to be tense before the game and we tried to match them physically and we did that, especially in the second half.

“We struggled defensively but I’d say we got back to our striking force and more than four goals is something very special.

“At times we lacked defensive stability but that is normal at Leicester. It was good for me to get some game time. I still lack a bit of fitness but it was good today. I say we deserved that especially after the second half.”