Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker says they can handle the physical tactics of Stoke City.

Mertesacker says Arsenal have a gameplan to combat the threat posed by Tony Pulis' side, but must remember their own strengths as well.

"Stoke may play differently to Liverpool, but we need to be ready for it," he told Arsenal Player. "We must get the ball down and play our own game.

"That is very important against Stoke: to focus on our own game and cope with the long balls and the physical side of things. And then get the ball down as quickly as possible and show what we can do.

"We will try to put them under pressure so they can't play those dangerous balls into the area, and don't have a lot of set-pieces. We have to get them away from our goal and focus on what we need to do."