Arsenal manager Unai Emery gave his verdict on his team’s 2-1 victory over Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon.

An own goal from Jefferson Lerma and a crucial matchwinning goal from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave the Gunners three points after two consecutive draws in the Premier League.

Visits to the Vitality have not always been so sweet for Arsenal, but Emery stressed the importance of winning the ‘big game’ with tough matches coming up.

He said: “We were speaking in the week and above all the two days before the match and it’s very important today and a very difficult objective, today the three points is big, it was a big match and a big moment for us.

“There’s a lot of matches coming; Tottenham, Manchester United, who have the same objectives as us and I think the team spirit today and our support we feel more strong.”

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was the hero once more for Arsenal today, scoring once again to secure the three points. Emery was thrilled with the number 14’s performance.

“The most important thing for us was not only that he scored but how we was working in the 90 minutes and he worked to help us in all the things tactically and defensively,” he added.

On playing three at the back for the first time this season:

“We played like that in pre season, and in the europa league this is an opportunity also to find our best performance with the system and the player and the combination. For example today the combination with Kolasinac and Iwobi was a very interesting combination also when we are pushing with Hector our wide we need also the balance with some players. We are conceding more goals than we want but we need to improve and we need more.”

On Mesut Ozil not featuring:

“We thought how we could do better in the match today, with a match with physicality and intensity and we decided that [to bench Ozil]. Every player is important, every player wants to play. We tried with three centre backs like some moments in this season we work differently and it’s another opportunity to find our best performance in this squad.”