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Arsenal logo
Champions League | Round of 16
Mar 7, 2017 at 7.45pm UK
 
Bayern logo

1-5

Walcott (20')
FT(HT: 1-0)
Lewandowski (55' pen.), Robben (68'), Costa (78'), Vidal (80', 85')

Per Mertesacker: Arsenal "were not ready for a fight" in Munich

Per Mertesacker admits that Arsenal must "show a different face" in their return meeting with Bayern Munich following last month's heavy defeat in Bavaria.

Arsenal captain Per Mertesacker has warned his teammates that they cannot afford to approach Tuesday's return meeting with Bayern Munich in the same way as the first leg.

The Gunners fell to an embarrassing 5-1 defeat at the Allianz Arena last month, leaving their hopes of progressing beyond the last-16 stage for the first time since 2010 in tatters.

Pressure has mounted on Arsenal and particularly manager Arsene Wenger, as the setback in Bavaria came on the back of a costly defeat to Chelsea in the Premier League to essentially end their faint hopes of winning the title.

Mertesacker admits that Arsenal were not up for the battle three weeks ago, but says the club's current struggles - and off-field matters surrounding a reportedly unsettled Alexis Sanchez - are not purely down to under-fire boss Wenger.

"I think we saw on a lot of occasions that we were absolutely not ready for a fight," he told reporters. "That's what I want to see tomorrow, that we are up for a fight, to challenge something. We haven't competed a lot in recent games, we need to turn that around. I think it's up to us to show a different face tomorrow.

"That is really something we are going to demand because we literally blew it away in the second half there (in Munich) and being in that position. So it's really down to us now to make the first step to make our fans proud of ourselves again. That is really something that we need the emphasis on.

"It's not always the manager. It's hard for him now to select, he does it with his best knowledge and we trust him. He has got a lot of options now. It is not going to be about one single player and all these questions about one player is very disruptive to our team.

"Tomorrow we have got a game to face that is really important to our team, not to one individual player. We have shown on many occasions that we can turn it around and we are happy to play for him, yes.

Bayern have defeated Arsenal six times and suffered three defeats in their past 11 meetings, including successive wins by a 5-1 scoreline.

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Alexis Sanchez in action during the Premier League game between Everton and Arsenal on December 13, 2016
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