Following Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace, Per Mertesacker dedicated the win to some of his absent teammates.
Arsenal went back to the top of the Premier League on Sunday with a 2-0 home victory over Crystal Palace.
Most of the headlines prior to the match had been about the deadline-day signing of Kim Kallstrom and his subsequent injury, but the returning Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain stole the spotlight as his brace gave the Gunners a much-needed three points.
Now Arsene Wenger’s men can sit back and watch this evening’s match between Manchester City and Chelsea and keep their fingers crossed for a draw. Because it really was a job very well done against a resurgent Palace.
Given the amount of players Wenger was unable to call on due to injury or suspension, the visit of Tony Pulis’s side could easily have been a banana skin. But in the end they coped relatively easily and after the match, Per Mertesacker took to Twitter to congratulate the two-goal hero and dedicate the victory to four players who were not involved and one – in Tomas Rosicky – who only played for the last 18 minutes having previously suffered a broken nose.
“This win is yours,” the German international wrote, before name-checking Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott, Kallstrom and Rosicky.
Now they will wait to see what City and Chelsea do, before heading to Anfield next weekend for a crunch-match of their own.
You can see Mertesacker’s tweet and the accompanying picture below:
image: © Ronnie Macdonald
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