The Gunners went 1-0 down to a Johan Djourou own-goal but two quick-fire strikes from Robin van Persie in the second-half turned the match on its head, writes Stewart Coggin.

"It is a massive win for us because we had just lost two games unexpectedly and to lose would have put us 13 points adrift of Chelsea and it would have been too much," admitted Wenger. "It was also a test of character and we have showed from the start that we have character.

"We were a bit unlucky to be 1-0 down at half time and in the second-half we slowly moved on top of the game, started to win the fight in the middle of the park and showed that every time we won the ball we could be dangerous. I'm very very happy tonight because we have now beaten Man United in a convincing way, and Chelsea."

Wenger was impressed by the performance of former captain William Gallas against his former club. The Frenchman has endured a difficult ten days but Wenger praised his defender's displays since having the armband removed for inflammatory comments about the Arsenal squad.

"I think William was outstanding today, absolutely amazing and for me he has come out of that troublesome period with a lot of credit because his commitment is fantastic and he had an outstanding performance," continued Wenger. "He already had an outstanding one against (Dynamo) Kiev on Tuesday night. He shows that he is a real fighter. "

Wenger cut a disgruntled figure in the first-half as his team struggled to make an impact in the midfield area. A much improved second-half display led to inevitable questions about his half-time team-talk.

"I transferred my energy to the team at half-time," Wenger added. "They started stronger, but we came slowly in. But then we scored an own-goal. I told them at half-time that we had to last at a high pace for as long as we can because it looked like we could be dangerous if we maintained a high pace."