Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised the dead-ball prowess of record signing Mesut Ozil after the Germany international helped the Gunners continue their winning streak with a 3-1 victory over Stoke.
Ozil, making his home debut, was involved in all three goals as his set-pieces were turned home by Aaron Ramsey, Per Mertesacker and Bacary Sagna.
Ramsey continued his fine goalscoring form by slotting home the rebound after Asmir Begovic had parried Ozil's early free-kick, and then Mertesacker headed home a corner from the former Real Madrid playmaker after Geoff Cameron had equalised for Stoke.
Then in the second half another Ozil ball into the area, this time from a free-kick, was met by Sagna to send a looping header past Begovic.
Wenger admitted he was surprised to see his side enjoy such success from set-pieces against Stoke but praised Ozil's contribution.
"I didn't expect to score so many headers from free-kicks against Stoke, but the delivery is very important and the deliveries were good today," the Frenchman told Sky Sports.
"Like the team he gave a lot on Wednesday night (against Marseille), but he showed his class today and he worked hard as well."
Regarding the victory, which was Arsenal's seventh in succession in all competitions and fourth on the trot in the Barclays Premier League, Wenger felt his side ran out of steam slightly in the second half but hailed their fighting spirit.
"We had a good first half and the second half was more digging in a little bit because we lost our fluency, you could see that we lacked legs a bit but overall it's of course an important three points.
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"The confidence is there and the desire is there, and that's a very strong base. We can score goals and create chances, today in the second half we lost our usual game but in the end we won."
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