Interview

Cedric - Our willingness and fight was key

Cedric

Cedric was in familiar surroundings on Tuesday evening, albeit in a slightly unfamiliar position.

Naturally a right-sided full back, the Portugal international made his return to St Mary's on our left flank, but produced a near-faultless performance as we secured the three points.

"Even though we conceded the early goal, the team was willing to play and wanted to perform since the beginning," he said after the game. "We were winning many more duels today and playing much more and the result just came natural with the performance of the team.

"Every game is important to me and Arsenal as well, and I think it was great from the team. I played here very often, but it’s always a very tough game and Southampton is also a great team. They’re doing very well and we knew that it would be a hard game, but I think we were stronger, we worked harder and the result was there.

"In the Premier League anything can happen and right now we are in a good moment," Cedric added. "We need to use it because every point is important and we need to keep fighting for every point and every game. This is what we’re doing and we know we didn’t have the best start to the season, but now there, we’re working, the team is in great form and I hope we keep going.

"It’s the best league in the world, so this is great, honestly. The football becomes so much more competitive and it’s harder to win, but Arsenal is here to compete and we have our goals to achieve a high position in the league. We need to keep working to achieve it."