Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted victory over Birmingham City was "imperative" yesterday.
Birmingham went ahead through Nikola Zigic after 33 minutes as once again the Gunners - who lost two straight league games before the international break - failed to make the most of their early possession.
However, Samir Nasri levelled from the spot just before half-time, with Marouane Chamakh slotting home a well-taken second goal two minutes after the restart which proved enough for all three points.
"Victory was imperative," said the Arsenal manager.
"We were backs to the wall in the championship, where we were in a position where we really had to win, and when we went 1-0 down, we made it even more difficult.
"We played with nerves, and you could see our fluency was affected by the fact we had not won for two games.
"We played a bit with the hand brake in the final third, especially when we were 2-1 up.
"It was never comfortable today, you could see and feel that in the way we played."
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