Per Mertesacker believes in-form Arsenal should push on until the end of the season and finish second to qualify outright for the Champions League.
Arsenal have only avoided a qualifier in the Champions League four times since they were last Premier League champions in 2004, and the big German defender believes avoiding those two-legged play-offs can only help his team in the long run for next season;
“Everyone wants to finish strong. We want to qualify directly for the Champions League. After the title is gone, that for us would be an improvement from last season where we had two qualifying matches, really tight ones, to secure Champions League football.”
Arsenal suffered a scare at the beginning of the season after only just scraping through their qualifier against Turkish side Besiktas 1-0 on aggregate and Mertesacker believes that a post World Cup hangover did not help for several players in the squad;
“Post-World Cup was not good enough, we have to admit that. How we finish season after season is fantastic but we have to be sharp from the start of the season. That is what we lack.”
With 37 points out of a possible 45, Arsenal are the inform team in the league since the turn of the year, and avoiding a Champions League qualifier would greatly benefit a strong league campaign next season for the Gunners. However, for the moment, the Gunners vice captain is focused on finishing second in the league this season and retaining the FA Cup.
“That’s the first target (finishing second) and then the FA Cup, to defend that trophy would be really amazing. It looks like we are quite sharp and the way we are going is really pleasing.”