Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger felt his side showed "strong response" after last week's defeat as they battled to a 2-1 away win against Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon.
The Gunners opened their Premier League account with a nervy win against Alan Pardew's men, a much needed morale boost ahead of Monday's home game against Liverpool.
The Frenchman was full of praise for his midfield players and for striker Olivier Giroud who scored a brilliant goal to give Arsenal the lead.
"We have shown our strong response and we have shown different aspects in our game that are vital in the Premier League," Wenger told reporters.
"We had a good, fluent game in the first half and when they came back to 1-1 it was a mental test to see how we could respond.
"We managed to find a second goal and after that in the second half of the game we just had to dig in, fight, and we did it as well. I'm pleased because we have shown many different aspects that will be very important in the season.
"He [Alexis Sanchez] brings a drive forward. He brings the pressure on the opponent. He brings goal chances. When it was 1-1 it is no coincidence that he found the header over Ward [and] maybe it's a typical Alexis goal.
"More desire than fitness, he is still a bit short fitness-wise but he is a fighter.
"He [Mesut Ozil] had a very good performance.
"He was important getting out from the back, getting out of tight areas. It is a pleasure to watch the quality of his passing and the intelligence of his passing.
"What I told you is what I want from him more is a few more goals this season. For the rest of the build-up in the game he was magnificent.
"He works harder than people thinks he does. He is not spectacular in his defending but he wants to do the job, he wants to help the team. What I liked in his game today was he made many runs without the ball behind the defenders, which is a bit new as he likes to come with the ball. Today he mixed up his game better.
"[Olivier] Giroud scored the goal and he was important because he had to kick a lot of long balls. I think he had a much stronger performance than recently."
