It may not have been a perfect performance, but Hector Bellerin believes we will take a lot from our late victory against Vitoria.
Nicolas Pepe was the hero, stepping off the bench to curl home two superb free kicks to seal a dramatic victory at Emirates Stadium.
Hector Bellerin, who captained us on the night, believes the fight we showed will stand us in good stead over the coming months.
on last-minute drama...
It's important as a team to be able to win games that evolve in different ways. In the last Europa League game, it was a 4-0 win and here towards the end, we were 2-1 down. But we managed to turn it around so it's very important for the confidence of the team to see that we can win every single game even if things are against us, or in our favour. I think we can take a lot of confidence and good spirit from this game.
on the first half...
I think they are a very good team. They came here after losing the other two games in the group stage, but if you look at the games they've had they've been very tight. They had some chances to score in those games, so I think they've deserved more from the games they've played before. We've been watching them throughout the whole week and we knew it was going to be a hard game because they have good players up front and very strong players at the back. We played our game, they played theirs and when the other team gets in front in the score, they can stay back and it's harder for you to attack. I think we did well towards the end. Sometimes you win 4-0, sometimes you score two goals at the end. It's important for the team to always believe in themselves and push on in the final minutes.
on Gabriel Martinelli...
It's really important for his confidence and for the team to keep pushing. I've always said that it's not just about his goals, it's about his fight, the spirit he brings to the team. He's very young and has a lot to learn. Everything that he's doing is positive because he's helping the team and helping himself. Of course everyone is happy for him to keep scoring.
on Nicolas Pepe...
We know what he's capable of because we've been training with him for a long time. We knew how good he's been for the last couple of seasons. Sometimes coming to another country and coming into another league can take time, but I think this is going to be very important for the team and very important for him to score these two goals. Also it's important that goals can sometimes come from individual actions. We want to play as a team but sometimes you need these players to produce these moments of magic. That makes you come from 2-1 down to win 3-2, so it's important for us as a club to know that we have these different resources.
on completing the comeback...
It's a great result for us, especially in the way the game went. We've come from very good wins at the Emirates by a few goals and that's what the team wanted to emulate, but sometimes games turn out in other ways, especially with them scoring first. We knew they were going to be organised and that they could create. They create chances but sometimes it's all about the response and the whole team playing together. Sometimes it takes individual players to create the goals and that's how it's been today.
on Vitoria...
We have the respect our rival. They're a team who work really well, they have very physical players at the back and they have strong and quick players up front. Because they lost their first two games in the Europa League, people thought the game was going to be easy but it's not as simple as that. We knew it was going to be a very hard game. We were resilient, the team kept trying at the end and we had more chances than just the goals at the end, but unfortunately we couldn't score from them. The team kept believing and we turned it around at the end.
on where we can improve...
There's loads of things we've got to improve as a team. Football keeps evolving and there are different rivals, different things that you've got to do in different games. I think that we had to keep the ball better but that's our trade. We want to play football and you know that when you try to play football, sometimes you're going to make mistakes. That doesn't mean you've got to stop playing that way. We have a style of play, it's in our DNA, and we want to keep playing like that. We're human, we'll make mistakes, but we need to keep pushing. Playing in the same way that we tried in the first half, in the second half we found the holes. That's how it works: you need to keep pushing and doing what you believe in, then towards the end everything falls into place.
on how much confidence we'll take from tonight into Crystal Palace...
For us, winning at home is always really important. We want the Emirates to be our fortress and it's always been like that. Palace is another game at home, we want to score goals, we want to keep pushing and evolving as a team, and sometimes winning when you think you're about to lose can do more for your confidence than just winning by four or five goals. I think this is going to be very important and positive for the whole team.
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