WHAT HAPPENED 

Lucas Torreira struck a late winner as we eked out a hard-fought victory against Huddersfield Town on Saturday.

In a game of precious few chances, we found it tough to break down the visitors and when we did have the ball in the net in the first half, Alex Lacazette was flagged for offside.

But after a spell of late pressure, our Uruguayan midfielder slammed the ball in from close range after good work by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to seal the three points.

With the pre-match festivities centred around our charity matchday, there were a host of activities taking place around the stadium to raise money for The Arsenal Foundation.

But once the game got underway, it was clear that the visitors were determined not to be as charitable as they made life difficult for us, snapping into tackles and closing the space well.

Indeed, it took until just before the half-hour mark for us to fashion our first chance of note when a sweeping move instigated by Matteo Guendouzi resulted in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang stabbed the ball wide from close range.

Less than a minute later we had created another big opportunity as the lively Guendouzi found Alex Lacazette unmarked in the area, but the striker slipped while taking his shot and scooped his shot over the bar. 

A flurry of yellow cards soon raised the temperature inside the stadium – two of which, for Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis, will see them suspended for next weekend’s trip to Southampton.

Just before the interval there was further controversy when Lacazette had a goal disallowed after preying on a defensive error, while Alex Pritchard went close for Huddersfield.

Unai Emery had seen enough and opted for two changes at half-time, bringing on Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan for Lacazette and Stephan Lichtsteiner.

Nacho Monreal soon came on for his first appearance since October 7 as we went in search of a much-needed breakthrough against stubborn opponents, but clear-cut chances were hard to come by.

But with seven minutes remaining we had the breakthrough as Aubameyang took the ball down at the far post, chipped it back across goal and Torreira acrobatically slammed the ball in from close range to secure a precious three points.

HOW IT HAPPENED

See how the match unfolded and get all the standout stats in our play-by-play commentary

WHAT IT MEANS

WHAT’S NEXT

Having already secured top spot in Group E of the Europa League, Emery has the chance to shuffle his pack for Thursday night’s game against Qarabag.

Goals from Sokratis, Emile Smith Rowe and Matteo Guendouzi sealed a comfortable victory in the reverse fixture in Baku in October.

Unai Emery was a relieved man after we scored a late winner to beat Huddersfield Town and extend our unbeaten run to 21 games on Saturday.

Afterwards our head coach faced the media and discussed the victory, Torreira's goal, Mustafi and suspensions.

Read on for a full transcript:

on how satisfying it was to win…
Good evening. I think today was a very important result. We wanted to win this way playing with a bigger rhythm over 90 minutes, but they stopped our rhythm a lot over 90 minutes. There were also a lot of yellow cards, fouls and time wasting. We needed patience and to win by waiting for our moment. In the first half we had chances and maybe a goal, and in the second half it was the same. The goal came later but it’s given us a good result in the end.

on Lucas Torreira’s goal…
Last week he scored and today he scored again. He has quality and his interpretation of the pitch tactically, and his perception in attacking moments and defensive moments. He’s very fast in his mind and his feet too. He can do very good work in defensive moments and, like today and last week, he can also get into the box and score like today.

on whether he’s exceeded his expectations…
We want to break every expectation with all players. He’s improving and working hard every day with a very big commitment, very good behaviour. He also has the commitment every day to learn English. I meet him every day in the dressing room and the first thing I notice is his commitment, his behaviour, and then he has quality and personality too.

on how worried he is about injuries…
We need to finish this week by winning today. We’ve spoken about this and having respect for Huddersfield. We were fine individually and collectively because we did that. We are happy for the three points, to continue in a good position in the table now. The injuries and yellow cards are coming with the matches. The important thing now is two days off for the players now, for us also, then coming back and thinking about Thursday and the Europa League, and for Southampton. The players will be OK and we will prepare for the game with the players to find the same spirit level as today so that every player can help us.

on Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi now being suspended for Southampton…
I need for my mind to take two days off!

on whether Mustafi’s injury was a hamstring…
Yes but I think he will be OK.

on whether Laurent Koscielny will be ready for next week…
Now, I don’t know how we are going to play next week, but we have players. Stephan played at centre back today and had a good performance in Manchester with good commitment. Koscielny is also coming back, Nacho Monreal too. We’ll have players.

on the week of headlines…
Maybe you are speaking about problems outside here, but in the club we’ve been speaking about that. There are no distractions, I don’t want distractions. Today every player had their focus on the match, and it was a tough match. It had a slow rhythm but we won and we deserved to win.

on having three players booked for simulation…
I don’t want simulation from our players, I want more rhythm in the match. The opposition can decide what the rhythm is when they have the ball, and they wanted to play like that. It’s a tough match for that because of the opposition, because they were stopping the play by fouling us in the circumstances. These yellow cards are good because the referee has been able to take the decision.

on whether he can tell us what he said to the players about this week’s headlines…
No.