Laurent Koscielny has urged Arsenal to kick on from their vital win at Bournemouth and put themselves firmly back into the Premier League title picture.
Having been top of the table at the turn of the year, Arsene Wenger's men slipped to fourth following a four-game winless streak before securing a 2-0 victory against the Cherries on Sunday afternoon.
The victory takes Arsenal five points behind leaders Leicester, who visit the Emirates Stadium on Sunday looking to keep their unexpected title tilt in full swing having won 3-1 at Manchester City at the weekend.
But for Koscielny, he wants Sunday's south coast success to set Arsenal on their way to a first Premier League crown in 12 years.
"It was important to win because we needed to stay high up the table with Leicester, Tottenham and Manchester City,'' he said. "We didn't play well during January and we didn't win a lot of points.
"We needed to start a good run with this game and we stayed strong at the back, and scored two goals with our first two opportunities. We had three games without scoring so it was important for our players.''
Koscielny has been partnered at the back by Gabriel for the last three games in all competitions, with Per Mertesacker only making the bench for the last two having been banned for the FA Cup win over Burnley.
"You know Gabby, he is a very good player,'' he added. "He likes his duels and he can play with the ball and passes. He played very well but the whole back four played well because we stayed together.
"Sometimes in your game you have a difficult situation but we stayed focus on our job.''