Per Mertesacker has called on his Arsenal teammates to show consistency over the coming months to stay top of the Premier League and to achieve Champions League knockout round qualification.

The BFG is confident going into tonight’s game against Dortmund, but believes achieving the right results over a longer period is crucial.

“We want to be as consistent as possible during the period until December or until the end of the year,” he said. “That will be important in order to compete with the top four or five opponents for the top position.

“We are really happy with our situation at the moment and I think we will continue to receive enough points to stay on top of the league and the Champions League as well.”

And of the clash at Westfalenstadion later on, Per believes they won’t be ‘naive’, an accusation leveled at them by Arsene Wenger following defeat the Emirates a couple of weeks ago.

“I think the team have to take their lesson but we are still good enough to compete with last year’s finalists. That’s a good thing for us so we have to keep our chins up and think we can do it.

“Both teams know that we are capable of beating each other.”