Per Mertesacker hails Hector Bellerin's energy after Arsenal's victory over Liverpool

PER MERTESACKER has lavished praise on youngster Hector Bellerin for his "great energy" after a goalscoring display in Arsenal's 4-1 win over Liverpool.

15:03, Sun, Apr 5, 2015 | UPDATED: 15:34, Sun, Apr 5, 2015

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Bellerin grabbed the opening goal of the match with a sweet left-footed finish, which kickstarted a sequence of three goals in eight minutes to overwhelm Brendan Rodgers' men in the first half.

Despite conceding a penalty for fouling Raheem Sterling in the area, Bellerin shone for Arsenal as they moved into second place in the Premier League.

It was only Bellerin's 13th appearance for Arsenal but Mertesacker was delighted with the "great performance" from his young team-mate.

Hector Bellerin REX

Hector Bellerin was outstanding for Arsenal

He said: “He scored the first goal and that was vital.

“He’s given us a lot of energy this season. He’s stepped up because we’ve had a lot of injuries but he gave us such a great energy and he’s capable of producing great performances like today.

“To put in such a good performance in front of our fans makes me delighted. I’m proud of our performance because we we kept going. It was a hard-fought win in the end and we deserved it with the way we played.”