Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admits his team had to dig deep to win against Sheffield United.

The Gunners were not at their fluid best, but managed to achieve a 2-1 win over the battling visitors.

Arteta wants to see his team do better in such games, but admitted the fighting spirit and desire to win ugly impressed him.

"It wasn't a pretty win because when you're [not able] to score a third goal against this team, you have to hang in there," the Spaniard told the club's website.

"They scored the goal when we were in complete control of the game and they're a team who are really dangerous. They started to throw a lot of bodies forward for set-pieces and throw-ins. They do it really well but we have to manage the game and go through it, and we did it and managed to get the three points.

"It's been a really tricky week mentally and physically, really demanding. When you play against this team with that low block, 5-3-2 and really organised, really hard to beat, you need to bring them out.

"We have to improve our ball speed, that was the first thing that I told them. Then some of the movement, control of the spaces and use of the overloads in the right areas.

"The moment we interpreted that better, we attacked much better, scored two beautiful goals, but we didn't close the game and in the Premier League that's always open."