Mertesacker: Arsenal can’t afford to lose to Sp

Wednesday’s rout in Munich left Arsenal on the brink of elimination and centre-back Mertesacker stressed the importance of avoiding another damning loss.

With the game coming before the global break – there is a gap of 13 days before Arsenal’s next match, at West Brom – he is likely to ask his country to rest him so the problem can be cleared up.

Wenger accused his men of being “extremely poor defensively” at the Allianz Arena, and keeper Petr Cech accused them of being a bunch of softies.

Goals from Robert Lewandowski in the 10th minutes and two goals from Muller (29th minute and 89 minutes) and Robin in the 55th minute ensured Bayern snatch the win with Giroud scoring the consolation for Arsenal in the 69 minute. Amazingly that is the best in all five leagues, with Bayern Munich and Spain´s Real Sociedad coming closest to matching us, but not that close. “The defeat to Bayern is tough to take but in a way you have to accept the team you played was superior to us in everything they have done”.

Mauricio Pochettino’s team beat Aston Villa on Monday, then hosted Anderlecht in the Europa League on Thursday, leaving them with little recovery time before facing Arsenal.

Former Tottenham Hotspur player and manager Ossie Ardiles has taken to Twitter as Spurs prepare to face fierce rivals Arsenal this weekend.

Mesut Ozil, who had a goal disallowed for handball which would have made the score 1-1, told team-mates the ball hit his arm accidentally and he felt it should have stood.

Tomas Rosicky has had a boost in his long-running battle to regain fitness after knee surgery in early August, with his specialist clearing him to resume running work next week.