Viktor Gyokeres believes that Arsenal's derby rout of Tottenham was the "perfect response" to the club's critics after the Gunners had stumbled in the race for the Premier League title.
Gyokeres and Eberechi Eze scored twice each in a 4-1 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, just four days after Arsenal, who were last crowned champions of England in 2004, were held to a 2-2 draw by bottom-of-the-table Wolves.
The dropped points at Molineux led to renewed questions about Arsenal's mental resilience, but their defeat of Spurs left them five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table.
Sweden striker Gyokeres, who has now scored 10 league goals this season, said: "It's always going to be difficult when you get a result like we had at Wolves, but it's how you handle that, and how you respond to it, and today we showed that in a good way.
"To get this result and this performance, it was the perfect way to respond."
He added: "There's a lot of games to go, but if we perform like this, it's going to be good."
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Arsenal, having avoided the Champions League play-offs, will be without a midweek game this week for the first time in more than two months.
Manchester City are also not back in action until next weekend – against Leeds at Elland Road on Saturday – and manager Pep Guardiola said that he would allow his players to relax with a few cocktails during the week.
But Arsenal counterpart Mikel Arteta, responding to Guardiola's plans, said with a smile: "Cocktails? I don't drink cocktails. So, no, we will do our own thing."