Per
Mertesacker has warned Chelsea that Arsenal are ready to "try new things"
when they head to Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
The Gunners will travel to west London to take on the Premier League leaders
in a confident mood after they marked Arsene Wenger's 18th anniversary as
manager in style with a 4-1 victory over Galatasaray in the Champions League
on Wednesday.
The win put Arsenal back on course for qualification out of Group D and was
in stark contrast to Wenger's 1,000th match in charge last season, when the
Gunners were blown away 6-0 at Chelsea in March.
They also lost 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in January 2013.
German defender Mertesacker - who captained the side against Galatasaray and
will do so again at the weekend with skipper Mikel Arteta sidelined by a
calf problem - maintains this time around, things will be different.
"Obviously it is a good lift. We have got good confidence at the moment and
will try to implement that into the game on Sunday," Mertesacker said.
"We know we can do better than the two consecutive seasons (at Chelsea)
before and I think we will try new things on Sunday to get a better result
than last year."
Danny Welbeck scored the first hat-trick of his career against Galatasaray
and Arsenal will be hoping for another clinical performance from the England
striker against the Blues.
"He is the main threat at the moment, especially on the counter-attack,"
said Mertesacker of the 23-year-old.
"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."
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