'They were fantastic, we need them alongside us'

Mikel Arteta is in no doubt as to the importance of our supporters in the recent victories over Burnley and Norwich City.

Having praised the home support following last weekend's win over the Canaries at Emirates Stadium, the boss was keen to stress the influence of our travelling contingent in the north west on Saturday afternoon.

Turf Moor may be over 200 miles from London, but we were strongly backed by a supportive following - and it didn't escape Arteta's attention.

"I'd just like to show them gratitude," Arteta told Arsenal Media. "To come all the way here and support the team like they did, I think the players wanted to show again their appreciation.

"They were fantastic. They have been fantastic and we need them.

"We need them alongside the team because they are a big part of our team."

While the game wouldn't qualify as a thriller in anyone's book, the boss was pleased by the commitment and full-blooded nature of his team's display against Sean Dyche's side.

"It was a hard-fought win, like it should be when you play Burnley away," Arteta said. "I think we started the game really well. We played some fantastic passes and you could see a lot of the things that we want.

"I think we should have scored more, we had some open chances to score and then we lost control of the game a little bit. It's going to happen, the way they play, they just play a long ball, a second ball, a throw-in, to start to create promise, to bring you down.

"We could not really take our back line higher, we started to defend a little bit deeper to give away regains really quickly and that's important because we had acres of space to run and finish the action.

"But I must say, the spirit of the team, the commitment of every single player - to block shots, to stop crosses, to defend the box, to track back - it was phenomenal."