"We all looked a bit knackered" says Per Mertesacker

Per Mertesacker says Sunday’s north London derby was “fun to play” but admits that Arsenal “looked a bit knackered” following Wednesday’s Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich.

Harry Kane capitalised on a mistake from Laurent Koscielny to give Spurs a first half lead, before Kieran Gibbs came off the bench to equalise late on and secure a hard-fought point at Emirates Stadium.

The German defender, recently tipped in the sports betting guide from online-betting.me.uk, was part of the side that suffered a 5-1 dismantling at Bayern during the week and Mertesacker believes the result played a huge part in the below-par performance against Tottenham.

“It was fun to play but we all looked a bit knackered, especially in the first half,” he said.

“We gave absolutely everything to get a draw here and we will enjoy next weekend off, a few of us, then back to duty the next week.

“We stayed with the same line-up as against Munich apart from Gabriel, and even (Tottenham) played on Thursday but they looked fresh in the first half and then suffered in the second.”