Laurent Koscielny admits the pressure of watching Arsenal's dramatic FA Cup Final victory over Chelsea made him feel sick.
Koscielny received a red card on the final day of the 2016-17 Premier League season against Everton, meaning he missed out on the FA Cup Final through suspension.
Despite the French centre-back's absence, Per Mertesacker returned for his first start of the campaign in inspired form as the Gunners beat Antonio Conte's Premier League champions 2-1 at Wembley.
The London rivals have already faced each other once in pre-season since May's Final - with Chelsea winning 3-0 in China - and clash again at Wembley in Sunday's Community Shield.
But Koscielny says he now knows exactly how Arsenal fans feel when they face their London rivals, telling the club's site: "When I don’t play it is, well not 'horrible', but I feel a lot of pressure.
In Pictures | Arsenal vs Chelsea, FA Cup Final | 27/05/2017
"You are in the stands and you just watch the game, you can do nothing.
"It is different to when you are on the pitch - it’s not something I like and during the 90 minutes I wasn’t very well!
"But we won so at the end I was very happy for the club, for the team and the fans. When you play the final, you just need to win the game and we did it."
Koscielny is available for Sunday's match as the Football Association consider the Shield to be a friendly, and the defender will serve the final two matches of his ban as the 2017-18 season kicks off.
The centre-back has accepted that missing the Final for a reckless challenge on Enner Valencia was a realistic outcome, but praised Mertesacker for stepping up against Chelsea.
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“The referee gave a red card and if he thought that was the best solution for this tackle, then I can accept it," he added.
"It’s the rules, I made a mistake, got a red card and missed the FA Cup final.
“It was difficult because I wanted to play in the final, but I was happy with Per because he was injured all season, but stayed focused and was always professional with his attitude and he was amazing in that game.”