Arsenal centre-back Shkodran Mustafi believes that the competition for places within the squad is healthy and makes the squad stronger, the Evening Standard reports.
New Gunners boss Unai Emery made five signings this summer and has shaken up the squad since taking over from long-standing manager Arsene Wenger.
Emery opted to drop Aaron Ramsey from the starting XI against Chelsea and the weekend, and later made the bold decision to substitute Mesut Ozil in the second half of the game.
However, Arsenal defender Mustafi has insisted that the fight for places in the Arsenal team has only spurred the rest of the players on.
Competition is something that brings you to the next level, because if you have no competition and you know you are starting week in, week out, it takes a little bit of the quality [away].
When you know you have someone standing on your toes, you are going to be try and be better and better every week.
Competition is right but it has to be healthy. For us it is because we are in a good team spirit. Everyone is quite happy with the people we have in the changing room. There’s no people fighting each other or something like this.
There is competition but healthy competition and that is something that is going to bring us forward.
Following the £19.2million arrival of goalkeeper Bernd Leno this summer from Bayer Leverkusen, the fight for the no.1 shirt is one of the most hotly contested among the Arsenal squad.
Leno is yet to feature in the League this season for the Gunners, having so far been second choice to Petr Cech.
However Mustafi insists that his German compatriot is ready should he be called upon for this weekend’s fixture against West Ham.
I know Bernd very well because we played together since the Under-15s German team, so I have known him for a long time.
He is a brilliant goalkeeper. He has everything a modern keeper needs: good feet, good hands and he has personality.
