Newly resolute Arsenal held clear-the-air talks after Southampton wake-up call

Per Mertesacker has revealed how Arsenal got out of their "comfort zone" to become an effective defensive team unit.

The Gunners thumped Aston Villa 5-0 on Sunday to move level with fourth-placed Southampton and just a point behind Manchester United. It was a fourth successive clean sheet in the Premier League since losing away to the Saints on New Year’s Day.

Centre-back Mertesacker revealed how the fall-out from that disappointment led to a renewed collective effort from the group to make themselves hard to breakdown, which paid dividends with a battling 2-0 win at Manchester City to help renew confidence the squad have what it takes to compete with the Premier League’s best.

“At Southampton, that was a major setback. It was a bad start of the year,” said the 6ft 7ins German, who captained the Arsenal side against Villa with midfielder Mikel Arteta still out injured.

“We talked consistently about how to find our best way, but you have to show it on the pitch, otherwise everybody will doubt you and you cannot see any benefit.

“After Southampton, we promised ourselves to come out of that comfort zone and be a bit more focused, especially that what comes first is defensive work and not just for the back four.”

He added: “You can see the benefit when everyone realises that, and I thought everyone realised it very quickly after we lost at Southampton.

“Maybe sometimes you need a wake-up call to realise what was really important.

“We worked a lot on our defensive shape, and not just the back four, to avoid those dangerous free balls against us.

“We look much better and the best game defensively was against Man City, that was a bit of a change.

“In the last years, we went there and wanted to convince everybody that we can go and play our own way, so that was a bit of a change because sometimes we have to do something else that was unexpected, and was maybe the winning moment.”

As well as their new-found defensive steel, Arsenal have executed their attacking prowess, with 15 goals scored and only two conceded, those in the fourth-round FA Cup win at Brighton.

Much of that form has been down to the return to fitness of key men like Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil, who both scored for the second successive match on Sunday.

German playmaker Ozil, out since early October with a knee problem, produced a couple of notable sublime moments against Villa.

The first was an instinctive flicked volley in the centre-circle to set Olivier Giroud clear for the opening goal on eight minutes, and then making it 2-0 with a fine finish into the bottom corner after a swift counter-attack in the second half.

Mertesacker is glad his fellow World Cup winner is getting back to form. “You can see he is dangerous and has pace when he really wants he is so quick, and he caused a lot of trouble, and was always a threat,” said Mertesacker of Arsenal’s club-record €55million signing from Real Madrid in September 2013.

“Sometimes I wish he is more selfish in front of the goal, as you can see when he breaks through the lines, he should have scored instead of looking for another player.

“It was not on his best position in my opinion, he played more on the left side, but he can play anywhere up front.

“But it is good for him to get back his fitness. Maybe on the wing he is doing a bit more defensive work as well. “He suffered a bit at the end of the game, but he always looked dangerous, was always available. He always wants the ball and wants to create something.”