Arsene Wenger trusted us and we let him down, admits Per Mertesacker

But now in his autobiography, Per Mertesacker has revealed that Wenger was let down by the Arsenal team post-2004. He further goes on to add, that their best chance was during the 2015/16 season but Arsenal failed to live up to their potential. In the end, Leicester City had a fairytale season and won the league title, but Mertesacker considers it Arsenal's best chance post-2004.

“Every team has its poor phases over the season, the trick is minimising them. You have to draw quick lessons from defeats and immediately remind yourself of your own strengths. Other teams were better at that. They managed setbacks better, not letting themselves be intimidated by those first negative waves and ignoring what people on the outside were saying. We didn’t have the ability to shift quickly and keep our faith after a disappointment,” revealed Mertesacker in the Big Friendly German, reports the Evening Standard.

Ultimately, we as players need to ask ourselves whether we did everything possible to justify his trust. Did we implement his instructions perfectly? Were we pulling together? Did we learn from our mistakes? No. Wenger has won three Premier League titles, which is proof enough of his standing as a ­manager. The team, on the other hand, had fallen short since 2004,” concluded the German.