Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta insists Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is one of his most important players.

Arteta dropped his captain to the bench for Sunday's north London derby against Tottenham a "breach of pre-match protocol".

The Gunners claimed a deserved 2-1 victory over their fierce rivals without their star striker, but Arteta has no doubts about Aubameyang's place at the club.

"He is an incredible guy and one of the most important players in the team," Arteta told Sky Sports.

"He is our captain and these things happen. We have lots going on in our lives and people finding it hard with the restrictions. I will never tell anything that happens in the dressing room."

On the win, Arteta added: "We had a really strong performance right from the beginning, we created many chances and went a goal down with their first shot.

"But I love the reaction of the team, we stayed composed and in the end we won the game.

"Scoring before half-time was really important as it put us in a good position for the second half

"We scored the second goal, we got a bit nervy in the final 10 minutes and that is one of the things we need to improve as a team."