Unai Emery has admitted Arsenal were forced to remain structured in order to get a result away from home at Watford on Monday night.
The Gunners returned to fourth-place in the Premier League table on Monday, when they secured a 1-0 win over Watford at Vicarage Road.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the only goal of the game as early as the 10th minute after taking advantage of a howler from Ben Foster, who was caught napping on the ball.
Javi Gracia’s men were handed another blow shortly after conceding the opening goal when Troy Deeney received a straight red card for throwing his forearm at Lucas Torreira.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, Watford offered the far greater threat on the night and threatened to score an equaliser during numerous instances in the second half.
And following their narrow win away from home, Emery has admitted Arsenal were forced to remain structured for the majority of the game to walk away with maximum points against Watford.
“Yes, the three points is the most important today”, Emery told a press conference.
“We worked to be consistent in our structure, defending their long balls and set pieces. Here they are a very strong team on that.
“After with the ball I wanted to do better, to control better with one player more in the pitch.
"In some attacking moments for us we took chances to score the second goal but didn't score.
“We needed to defend the last minutes closer to their actions in the long ball and second ball.”
Arsenal will now shift their focus back to the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday, when they face Napoli in the away leg, with a healthy 2-0 advantage on aggregate from the home leg last week.
