Per Mertesacker defends Arsene Wenger - 'I don’t think anybody justified their selection today'

Wenger named a squad missing the vast majority of the first-team players with Mertesacker captaining the side and they were defeated 4-2 by Forest on Sunday afternoon.

After the match Wenger came in for a lot of criticism for his team selection but Mertesacker insisted it was the players' fault.

"It’s pretty easy. The manager made a lot of changes, gave a lot of trust to players who haven’t played a lot recently and I don’t think anybody justified their selection today. That sums it up I think." Mertesacker told the club's website.

"It’s difficult. In the first half we played in the park a little bit. We were not precise, especially in the final third. We couldn’t create a lot of chances. In the second half there was a little bit more spirit from ourselves, but in the duels you could see that they out-battled us and that little momentum never really changed.

"When we scored to make it 3-2 and when he mis-kicked the penalty, obviously we expressed it to the ref but he didn’t listen. It’s difficult to take because for those players who played today, that was probably a last chance to show up and show the manager that they’re ready to play more games. It’s not the case anymore."

Mertesacker was furious at the end of the game as he felt Kieran Dowell's penalty was a double-hit as he slipped, which would have led to a free-kick to the Gunners and he reiterated the view.

"Yes [it was a double contact]. It would’ve been a free-kick for us. You could clearly see it, that’s why we shouted to the referee. He didn’t have any explanation and that’s on him. They obviously spoke to each other, and nobody saw the incident. David saw it and all the players did too.