Bernd Leno admits he struggled mentally in his first weeks at Arsenal.

Leno played second fiddle to veteran stopper Petr Cech at the start of the season following his £20million move from Bayer Leverkusen last summer.

He explained to DAZN: "It was a hard time.

"I think goalkeeper is a special position because as a striker you can come on for the last 20 minutes but a goalkeeper you don't change too much, so it was a very tough time.

"But the manager and the goalkeeper coach both told me to stay calm and focus on training. I played some games in the Europa League and Carabao Cup and it was good to have these games to improve and get a feeling for the defence.

"It was also good for my team-mates because when you come to another club and another country, everything is new. I started a little bit later in pre-season as well and everything is just a little bit bigger.

"So it was maybe good to learn and to see in training and also get confidence with your team-mates. In the end it was maybe not too bad to first be second choice in the Premier League."