Tyrone Mears wants Derby to be on their game from the first whistle when Arsenal head to Pride Park Stadium on Monday night.

The Rams took a while to get into their stride in their last outing at West Ham but went on to have the better of proceedings.

They gave the Hammers a goal start and Mears admits that they cannot afford to do the same against Arsenal.

"They are a fantastic team and can play magnificent football but we have got to try and build on West Ham," he told www.dcfc.co.uk.

"We have got to take our performance from the second half and start like that from the very first whistle."

Derby's last performance against one of the supposed 'big four' sides earned them a lot of credit.

They went down 1-0 to Manchester United thanks to a goal scored late in the day and could easily have been ahead before Cristiano Ronaldo struck.

Their effort and work-rate were commended by all parties and Mears reckons a repeat of that would be a good foundation against the Gunners.

He said: "I think, as the gaffer says, you don't have to be blessed with super quality as long as you're organised and compact.

"You can give any team a game that way but we have not done that often this season.

"So we need to build on what happend at West Ham as we were really disappointed with the result but the performance was good."

Mears was a constant thorn in the side of his former club and netted his first goal of the season at the Boleyn Ground.

It came with the 25-year-old playing on the right of Derby's midfield in a role he enjoyed - and he hopes to find the net again before the season is out.

"It depends whether the gaffer is going to keep me in that more forward role but hopefully I can get a couple more," Mears added.

SEE THE RAMS TAKE ON ARSENAL ON MONDAY APRIL 28.

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