Per Mertesacker lambasts 'timid' Arsenal after Gunners subside to Watford defeat

Per Mertesacker has offered a damning assessment of Arsenal’s “timid” display in their 2-1 reversal at Watford.

Mertesacker, starting his first top flight game since April 2016 and in the process ending a streaks of 109 league matches for Arsenal without their club captain in the starting XI, scored the opener from a corner six minutes before the interval.

But Arsenal were unable to defend their lead, Mesut Ozil missing a fine chance in the second half, and slipped to victory as Troy Deeney converted from the spot before Tom Cleverely hammered home a 92nd minute winner after chaos in the Gunners area.

Though Wenger bemoaned the “scandalous” penalty that handed Watford a way back into the match Mertesacker was insistent that the blame for defeat lay squarely at the Arsenal dressing room door.

“We have to admit at the end that they wanted it more,” Mertesacker said. “The second half they were all attack and we were timid. We tried to protect the goal we scored and it was not enough.

“There was a change of momentum. We had a clear-cut chance [Ozil’s miss] and after that they scored the equaliser and had momentum on their side. You could sense second half they were more up for that fight that was required, especially away from home.

As for the penalty, when Richarlison appeared to go down under Hector Bellerin’s rather slight challenge, Mertesacker refused to make excuses.

“That’s difficult [to judge] in that speed. We need to protect Hector better.

“He had to open it up a little on his right side. At the tempo it’s difficult to judge [whether it was a penalty].”

Mertesacker added: “We wanted to protect our goal better, we lost too many balls. When we regained the ball we lost it straight away. A few breaks we could have done better on that.

“At the end you have to say we tried hard to protect our goal but it wasn’t enough. They could cross every single ball in and it was difficult to defend.”