Emiliano Martínez was quick to praise his Aston Villa teammates after registering an 11th Premier League clean sheet of the season.
After conceding three against West Ham on Wednesday, the Argentine and his defence were back to their best to shut down the Gunners.
Martínez wasn’t surprised by the defensive improvement, and says he had an inkling a positive performance was coming after the squad’s efforts in training on Friday.
“Ollie is our first defender, then Jack, who is so good going forward but he defends, and Bertrand,” he said.
“My back four never switch off. When we switch off, we concede. But when we’re on it, we are hard to beat.
“I could feel in yesterday’s set piece training that everyone was on it – heading the ball, talking and communicating, so I thought that we were going to be on it today.
“Credit to my teammates, they ran like crazy. I’m really happy for them.”
The 28-year-old had fewer saves to make than his counterpart, Mat Ryan, with Arsenal only managing three shots on target.
However, he had to be at his best to keep out Granit Xhaka’s first half free-kick that looked destined for the top corner.
And ex-Gunner Martínez said some insider knowledge helped him thwart the Swiss midfielder.
He said: “I’ve known Granit for so many years and I know he has a wand of a left foot.
“When he was on the ball, I didn’t think he was going to cross it, I knew it would be over the wall and in the top bin.
“He did it. He hit it really, really cleanly but my speed was really good and I was delighted to keep it out.”
