Time to show our title credentials! Podolski and Mertesacker chat about Ozil and the London life ahead of tricky City clash... but the German Gunners are sure they can fire Arsenal to glory this season
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Arsenal's German trio are ready to fire Arsene Wenger's side to the Barclays Premier League title - starting with the trip to Manchester City on Saturday lunchtime.
Mesut Ozil became the third German member of the Arsenal squad after his £42.5million summer move from Real Madrid and he has quickly formed a strong friendship with crowd favourite Per Mertesacker and forward Lukas Podolski at the Emirates Stadium.
Mertesacker exclusively told BT Sport for its Man City v Arsenal programme on Saturday: 'It feels good, we are comfortable here, we are in a good position as a little German squad here for the Arsenal team. So we are really happy to have three of us here, its great, its amazing.'
VIDEO: Watch the German Arsenal players talk about the title challenge on BT Sport below
German class: Gunners trio Per Mertesacker
(second left) Lukas Podolski (second right) and Mesut Ozil (right) are
aiming to fire Arsenal to Premier League glory this season... and it
hasn't started too badly!
Between them, the three players boast an astonishing 258 international caps for Germany, and Podolski, who has made 111 appearances for his country, has backed Arsenal to maintain the form that has handed the Gunners a five point lead at the top of the Barclays Premier League.
Asked by BT Sport whether Arsenal can win the title, Podolski replied: 'Of course, why not? We are now top of the league after 15 games. The big games are coming.'
Indeed they are. Saturday brings a visit to the Etihad Stadium, where Manchester City have won all seven of their Premier League home games, scoring twenty-nine goals in the process. Manuel Pellegrini's side have already proved their big match-appetite , hitting Manchester United for four and steamrollering Tottenham Hotspur for six.
Superman: Podolski, who has yet to return to
action from an August injury, says there is no reason why Arsenal
shouldn't believe they can't pull off a title win
BFG: Mertesacker is the rock at the heart of the Arsenal defence keeping many teams at bay so far
Tactical genius: Arsene Wenger is the masterminding a surprise table-topping start to the season
The visit to Manchester is followed by the arrival of Chelsea to the Emirates Stadium next Monday night, where Arsène Wenger will attempt to finally bring an end to his wretched record in his personal duel with Jose Mournho - the Arsenal boss has so far failed to win a single game against the Special One in nine attempts.
It is a nine day spell that will offer an acid test of Arsenal's credentials.
'We have Man City and Chelsea,' Mertesacker continues, 'Two tough tests and that will really show how ready we are to get anything or achieve anything this season. Both teams are really tough opponents. That will be a good time to show everyone that we are ready.'
'When you look back to the start of the season, where we lost against Aston Villa, no one expected us to be on top of the league after 15 games. We are really proud of that. But we know we have to keep that level high especially our team spirit, which was outstanding during our season so far. So our target now is to keep that going.'
Happy family: The pair were speaking exclusively to BT Sport ahead of the match against Manchester City
Team spirit: The Gunners will have to maximize
the potential of their squad to get points against Manchester City and
Chelsea over the next two games
Support: Podolski (left), Santi Cazorla (centre) and Mesut Ozil (right) show their Rugby allegiance...
Arsenal's cause will be helped by the return of Podolski, who has been absent with injury since August, but it now thought to be close to first-team football after training with the squad this week.
And Podolski can't hide his excitement with regard to the prospect of teaming up with compatriot Ozil in the Arsenal frontline: 'He [Ozil] has done very well, he scores goals, everybody knows he passes the ball very well and he makes a lot of assists, I think the most in the season. He is an amazing player. I am ready to play with him. I hope we two Germans can play and score together.
'We are doing well this season so far. We have the quality. And when we fight, and when we stay together, we can fight for the title. We are a great team.'
Star man: The signing of Ozil has lifted the
whole club, both on the pitch and in the stands, and he may have added
that 'quality' Arsenal were missing
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