Per Mertesacker enjoyed playing in the 'positive atmosphere' of Arsenal vs Koln

There were four arrests but Mertesacker said that when the game started, it was “fun” to play in front of such a vocal and divided crowd

Per Mertesacker was a fan of the atmosphere inside the Emirates on Thursday night (Getty)

Per Mertesacker enjoyed playing in the “positive atmosphere” of Arsenal’s chaotic and delayed Europa League game with FC Koln last night.

The match was put back by one hour because of security concerns caused by an estimated 20,000 FC Koln fans attending the game, their club’s biggest for years. There were four arrests but Mertesacker said that when the game started, it was “fun” to play in front of such a vocal and divided crowd, with as many Koln fans as Arsenal fans.

When asked whether it was a positive or negative atmosphere to play in, Mertesacker said: “Actually quite positive, because the fans who were in the stadium were quite enthusiastic,” he said.

“It was quite fun to play in front of two crowds battling each other, in a way. It felt good to be part of that, and especially when we were 1-0 down, to get back, for the fans to get back into the game with us scoring two. We finally found our rhythm, and the fans as well were happy.”

Mertesacker said that Arsenal found it hard to handle the delay in the first half, when they went 1-0 down, and it was only in the second half that they settled into the game. “It was difficult, difficult to handle because we were already here in the dressing room and then we found out very late that we extended it to another hour,” he said. “It’s kind of annoying, you want to find out if you actually play or not. That was in doubt as well.”

Like many of the players, Mertesacker’s first concern was for his family, with some suggestion from team-mates that they should have stayed at home, but he was pleased to know they were ok and that the game could eventually proceed.

”But we wanted to play, we wanted desperately to play, not to play tomorrow,” he said. “We wanted to play desperately. Eventually everyone made sure that we can continue. But it took us 45 minutes and I think we are quite happy with the way it ended, but it took us a long time to get going here really.”