Arsenal have come under huge scrutiny this season for their lack of a strong defensive rearguard, succumbing leads via individual errors and a lack of communication across the back-four.
However, Unai Emery praised his side for their defensive work in the wake of Arsenal's narrow 1-0 win over Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon, a result which marked the club's first home clean sheet of the 2019/20 Premier League campaign.
Strong performances from Calum Chambers and Matteo Guendouzi were at the heart of Arsenal's performance, with the latter making a critical clearance to stop Joshua King's stoppage time effort from earning the away side a valuable point.
Emery praises defence after Bournemouth shutout
Speaking after the game, Emery highlighted the defensive performance of his side, believing they were worthy of praise at the full-time whistle.
"I remember every match we played here but also we played two matches in the league and cup and we won both 5-0," he said. "I think also we can remember and improve with that spirit."
"The level in the Premier League is more than the cups but also we played with one idea, with one style, creating a lot of chances, being competitive and being consistent in 90 minutes."
"An objective today was to win and after to take that way. In the first half we did that. The second half, really, they imposed their gameplan in some moments. We struggled but we were defensively strong and stopped their push with our goalkeeper."
Positivity within camp as Gunners go third
Emery continued, reflecting the positivity amongst the Arsenal camp after the result. The Gunners find themselves in third place heading into the international break and the manager believes the players will take huge confidence into their future games.
"I am very critical myself and ourselves but also positive. We can be positive. We are now third in the table, we are taking confidence and minutes, progressively getting better and I think we have a lot of good, positive things."