Per Mertesacker reveals possible explanation for Arsenal's capitulation at Chelsea and Liverpool

Arsenal’s Per Mertesacker (L)

Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker has blamed the club’s early kick-offs on Saturdays for their poor results.

The Gunners suffered another heavy defeat on Saturday as Chelsea beat them 6-0 in Arsene Wenger’s 1000th game in charge. It was the third huge defeat of the season after previously losing 6-3 to Manchester City and 5-1 to Liverpool.

The defeats to Liverpool and Chelsea saw them down 4-0 by half-time, with a man even being sent off at Stamford Bridge.

No one can quite put their finger on why the Gunners have been so poor in such big games this season but Mertesacker feels he has the answer.

The German said: “I don’t know why, but it looks like we don’t fancy early kick offs away.

“It looks like we are going to have to apply to the FA to not play at 12.45 away. That would help us a lot.

“We wanted to start very strong and show people we are good enough, but they scored the two very early goals.

“We lost some balls when we tried to keep it desperately. They then caught us on the counter-attack. We tried to avoid that. But we missed it completely.”