Per Mertesacker urges Arsenal to reproduce passion of north London derby against Koln

The players and the stakes will be different, but Per Mertesacker wants to see the same commitment, focus and spirit that Arsenal showed against Tottenham Hotspur when they face FC Koln on Thursday night.

Saturday was Arsenal’s best game of the year, a 2-0 win over Spurs in which all of their top players performed and they rolled over Mauricio Pochettino’s side. It was a game that suggested there is still hope for this Arsenal team, rather than yet another season of drift. There will be plenty of changes this evening and Mertesacker, on the bench on Saturday but starting on Thursday, wants his team to take that momentum into this Europa League game.

“It was a brilliant example of us bringing it all: fans and players together, a great atmosphere,” Mertesacker said at Arsenal’s press conference at Cologne/Bonn airport. “It was lovely to see how we were together, in every single situation: in the stands, on bench, on field, we seemed to be together. The intensity was great from the start. It is human that in those occasions, you give 20% more, it is like that. We want to reproduce it. They set a good example for us, those players, we saw the game, and the intensity.”

Wenger agreed that the changed Arsenal team, with Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck, Olivier Giroud and Francis Coquelin, would be playing to “present themselves”, with plenty of Premier League games on the horizon in December. Arsenal only need one point to ensure that they win the group – and are seeded for the last 32 of this competition – but his players may have more individualistic motivations.

“We are Arsenal, we want to always win, we are always under pressure, and it is important show a good performance tomorrow,” the manager said. “The players here, they want to show off, and present themselves.” So Wenger promised, slightly surprisingly, that the players who are coming into the team on Thursday will be just as motivated as those who played in the derby on Saturday. “If you compare the two teams from Saturday [and Thursday], and the players who come in, it’s difficult to say who wants to win more of these two teams.”

There will be a special atmosphere in Koln for the arrival of Arsenal, given how over-enthusiastic their fans were for the game at the Emirates earlier in the season. Uefa fined Koln €60,000 and handed down a one-game European away fan ban, suspended for two years, after tens of thousands of their fans bought tickets for the game in London, causing chaos at the ground and a long delay to kick-off. Mertesacker hailed the Koln fans and hoped for a good atmosphere on Thursday too.

“It is special and I am looking forward to the game,” he said. “They’ve got special songs here in Koln, and I am looking forward to listening to them before game. The atmosphere will be heated and passionate. This is one of those clubs, you can really feel they are different. Especially after our first game, it was lovely to be in, and to feel. Even when we warmed up, the opposition, they were special fans, and I hope that can be reproduced tomorrow.”