Mertesacker: We have to Keep our Best Players Fit to Challenge for Title

Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker believes that the team are set to end the season on a high after a host of players are back from injury to help them in the run-in.

The likes of Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil have returned from a long injury lay-off and are set to help Arsenal win the race for the fourth place with Everton, who are sniffing on their backs.

The Gunners hold a one point lead over Everton, who usurped their throne after a 3-2 loss against Crystal Palace at the Goodison in midweek.

The Gunners have really missed Ramsey, who scored one and assisted two on his return to the starting eleven in the league.

His energy and movement in the box was missing in the last couple of months as Arsenal fell from being league leaders to struggling for a Champions league spot.

Mertesacker believes that keeping their best players fit through the length of the system has to be the priority for Wenger, who has previously expressed his discontentment at having played Ramsey for an extended period, which lead to the injury.

"We need these moments where you can see we've got great players and some great finishers with Lukas Podolski on the scoresheet and Aaron Ramsey back on track, Mesut back on track. All these players could make a difference," Mertesacker told www.arsenal.com.

"When you have your whole squad together for as long as possible, that can make a difference. We suffered a bit in the second part of the season but now everyone is... coming back to full fitness. We've had some long-term injuries and it's good to have them all back," he added.

The German added that the Gunners were too slow to come off the block and Hull almost made them pay for their languidness by coming at Arsenal from the outset.

"I think at the start, Hull played very well, they put pressure on us all the time. They played with two strikers Jelavic and Long. They played quite decent together as well so it was quite tough," Mertesacker explained.

"We were lucky [at times] but overall when it was really, really close we had a good response.

"I think the whole team has to switch on quicker than normal to avoid those balls behind us [when we face two strikers]. I got booked very early so I always had to be aware.

"To cover each other is a vital point. We didn't do enough of that in the first 15 or 20 minutes but after it was much easier, especially in the second half, we got more possession, we were more dangerous and we've got some decent finishers in our team as well," he concluded.