Football
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Per Mertesacker: Danny Welbeck treble sets Arsenal up for Chelsea test

Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker says the club's impressive dismantling of Galatasaray on Wednesday night is ideal preparation for Sunday's trip to Premier League leaders Chelsea.

Mertesacker, 30, played the full 90 minutes as a Danny Welbeck hat-trick and Alexis Sanchez strike gave the Gunners an emphatic 4-1 Champions League Group D victory over the Turkish side -- the perfect response to their opening 2-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund.

Though Arsene Wenger's side were forced to play the final half hour with 10 men as a result of Wojciech Szczesny's red card, Mertesacker was pleased with the team's overall display and believes the performance has helped to restore confidence ahead of the trip to Stamford Bridge.

"Yes, it was almost [perfect]," he told Arsenal Player. "I think in the second half we tried to relax too much, especially when we won the ball, and then we lost it immediately.

"That caused some trouble at the end as you could see [with] the penalty, plus we conceded one goal and a red card.

"I think that kept us alive, on our toes, and we tried to finish that off. At the end we did well and I'm pleased with the performance, especially in the first half.

"Obviously [it's a] good lift [before the Chelsea game]. We've got good confidence at the moment and will try implement that into the game on Sunday."

Arsenal's performance tasted all the sweeter for Wenger who celebrated his 18th anniversary in charge of the club with a valuable three points -- a stark contrast to his last milestone when Chelsea marked his 1000th game at the Arsenal helm with a devastating 6-0 home league thrashing.

The Gunners already sit six points behind Chelsea in the Premier League table and Mertesacker is aware that Arsenal can ill-afford to drop any more points.

The Arsenal vice-captain admits he has been impressed with the impact of Welbeck -- who has bagged four goals in his last three appearances -- and believes that the England striker holds the key to unlocking Jose Mourinho's defence.

"He's the main threat at the moment, especially on the counter-attack," the German centre-back added.

"We have players who can put him in the right situations and that is what we need to find ourselves. It took a bit of time but I think now we are on [the] spot and we see what it takes to be a team and to be fully integrated.

"We know we can do better than the two consecutive seasons [there] before and I think we'll try new things on Sunday to get a better result than last year."

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