Per Mertesacker insists Arsenal will improve after clinching first win of the

Damien Delaney’s own goal allowed Arsenal to belatedly kickstart their Premier League season with a 2-1 away victory in the London derby against Crystal Palace on Sunday.

The ex-Barcelona winger produced a typically all-action performance before being withdrawn after 75 minutes and is now expected to play a full role in the remainder of Arsenal’s season, having missed their first two matches, including the Community Shield win over Chelsea.

“After that, we came back, then they had a chance at the start of the second half (which hit the post) and that kept us in the game“.

Even though we lost last week, the most important in football is to bounce back the week after and keep your faith in your game, which is what we tried to do and succeeded (in doing) today.

Coquelin could have been sent off when he pushed Wilfried Zaha to the ground at the end of the first half and he avoided a second yellow again for a clumsy challenge on James McArthur in the second period.

He said: “Arsenal had a point to prove and we were probably a victim of our own mistakes”. Giroud arched backwards before the 6ft 3in France striker dispatched a left-foot volley of the highest order into the bottom corner.

The 30-year-old in fact knows the kind of attacking options his team have on display and believes that the win is a prelude for better things to come from his team this year.

Yet ultimately the crisp build up play of Arsenal was too much.

The Palace defence blocked three shots from Sanchez in the early stages, the first as he sought to tee up a chance rather than blast it at the first attempt, but it was only a matter of time before Arsenal opened the scoring.

“Arsenal go to Selhurst Park on Sunday to face a Crystal Palace side who look like they have built on the hard-to-beat tag, especially with the capture of Yohan Cabaye“, Carragher told the Daily Mail.

McCarthy said: “I’ve been getting tweets from people saying to bring my earplugs to the game and I could see why as the atmosphere was unbelievable”. We could have killed the game before.

Pardew shook his head in dismay on the touchline while the home fans vented their frustration by booing Mason off the pitch at half-time.