Unai Emery praised Arsenal's character after they gave a glimpse of their potential in a thrilling 3-2 victory at Cardiff on Sunday. Emery was rewarded for a bold selection after partnering Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, his two main forwards, together from the start for the first time in the Premier League.
Both scored as Emery's men collected the second victory of his reign. The Spaniard saw his side make hard work of seeing off the newly-promoted Welsh club with old defensive failings twice allowing Cardiff to equalise. But Emery was impressed with the way Arsenal responded to each of those setbacks.
"The reaction is very important. The reaction was very good. We were calm," Emery said. "The most important thing is to be calm and to continue working. "We controlled the match for 70 percent of the 90 minutes." Emery got a crash course in both the strengths and weaknesses of the squad he inherited from Arsene Wenger. His decision to field two forwards paid handsome dividends as first Aubameyang and then Lacazette scored excellent goals to finally kill off Cardiff.
The Bluebirds had equalised through Victor Camarasa and Danny Ward after Shkodran Mustafi headed the Gunners ahead. "They are playing minutes each match and today they started (together)," said Emery of his strikers. "We are continuing to work on the combinations. Today I think the two players scored goals and helped us. "We can continue to work to find the best performance with each player."