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Ramsey - The whole team had to dig in

Aaron Ramsey spoke to the media after Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 in the first north London derby of the season. Read on to see what he said:

on the game…
It was a great game. I felt everyone worked ever so hard, starting from the strikers. They pressed high up. The whole team had to dig in [at] the end and the last 20 minutes was difficult. We've played a lot of minutes in the last 15 days so it was tough but we came through it in the end and it showed what it meant to the players and to the fans at the end.

on what the 'secret' of the win was…
I just think everyone working hard for each other, keeping a good team shape, not letting them play through the lines and we managed to do that and put in a great performance.

on showing determination at the end…
Absolutely. They have spent a lot of money this year and I think they were expecting to win. That gave us an extra bit of determination to go out and win the game. Which we did.

on what winning meant to the players…
You could see by the reaction of the players at the end. It meant a lot to us. We wanted to get back to winning ways at home in the league after the disappointment against Villa and we managed to do that again today. We're delighted with the win.

on the message the victory sends to the fans…
That we have a lot of quality in the team. The manager believes in us and we believe in what we're capable of doing and producing great performances. Maybe the manager knows as well that maybe we're a bit short on numbers. I'm sure they are going to do as much as they can over the next 24 hours.

on going into the international break on a high…
I think it was important to win before the international break so we're happy now. We don't have to go [into the break] on a loss and think about that for two weeks. We're delighted with the win today.

on a dip in form after the international break at the same stage of last season…
We're not sure but we know we have the quality in this team to do well and play and beat anybody on our day which we have shown again today. We had to dig in for large parts of the second half but it was a good team performance and I thought we deserved the win in the end.

on Olivier Giroud…
I thought he had a great game today. He worked ever so hard from the front and took his goal ever so well. He's high on confidence at the moment and whether or not we need another player is up to the manager.