Arsenal centre-back Per Mertesacker has praised his team's performance in the 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

The German defender claims that it was an impressive performance from the team who have been criticised for being low on self-confidence and lacking self-belief of late.

The Gunners rallied from 2-1 down to claim the draw after they were reduced to ten men.

"It's not down to us anymore so we're not in a position where we can really talk about the title," said Mertesacker.

"As long as we play like that, I'm confident. I have great belief in our group and nothing else.

"For a team with low confidence and no belief we played pretty well. We have shown great character and hopefully that gives us a lot of confidence and a lot of belief for the FA Cup tie and the following League games.

"We've shown a lot. With 11 men, we played really well. We defended well.

"I have never played in such a demanding game physically.

"We came here with a lot of injuries but never took that as an excuse. That is the biggest statement for ourselves – not for anyone else. We demand a lot more from ourselves and we showed up and everybody noticed that we care."