Mertesacker opened the scoring on four minutes from a set-piece in the win over Sydney FC, with the German impressed by the bumper crowd.

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"What a great attendance today," Mertesacker told SBS.

"We are very grateful for this opportunity to play our first game in Sydney and very thankful for the atmosphere."

Veteran goalkeeper Cech was also blown away by the attendance.

"We heard so much about the Arsenal fans here in Sydney," Cech said.

"Obviously when you sell out such a big stadium it's great.

"We're obviously happy we produced a very good performance.

"It should've been more than 2-0 but for the first game of the seaosn it was a very good game."

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