Arsenal finally showed some fight against Middlesbrough during Monday night's 2-1 win.

While the Gunners were far from their best at the Riverside Stadium, they dug deep to grind out a much-needed, albeit narrow, victory.

Alexis Sanchez broke the deadlock with a stunning free-kick just before half-time, only for Alvaro Negredo's 50th-minute header to draw the hosts level.

But in stark contrast to recent away defeats, Arsenal didn't allow the setback to dampen their spirits. They retook the lead through Mesut Ozil 20 minutes later.

Sanchez's delightful ball into the box was chested down by Aaron Ramsey to Ozil, who found the bottom-left corner with an unerringly accurate strike with his right foot.

And come the final whistle, the relief amongst Arsenal's players was there for all to see. Sanchez, Ozil and Granit Xhaka celebrated the win as if it were a cup final, that's how important it was.

A change of attitude has been needed for a long time now and it seems Arsenal's players have finally realised what's at stake: not just the Champions League, but pride.

Speaking after the game to NBC Sports, Ramsey was asked by club legend Lee Dixon how the players have been dealing with the recent criticism (see below at 0:33).

In response, the Welshman revealed how there's been a noticeable change in attitude during Arsenal training sessions; more specifically, they've been kicking each other a lot more.

"There's no hiding from the fact we haven't been at our best and there is a lot of pressure on us," he said.

"It's important for the whole squad to stick together. We've trained hard, we've trained well - there has been a few more kicks in training [laughs]."

According to Ramsey, Arsenal's under-fire players have been roughing each other up a bit in training recently - and Dixon loves it. "Good!" he replied.

Ramsey was also asked about the 3-4-3 formation Wenger deployed: "We've been working on our formation all week and I think it worked tonight.

"Our wing-backs got into some dangerous areas. We've only been working on it a week so we didn't have an awful lot of time to prepare. I thought we did well tonight."

Despite the result, Arsenal's chance of finishing in the top four remain slim. Ramsey added how they must win all their remaining games to secure Champions League football.

"It's going to be tough, we know that," he said. "We have to win probably all our games to get into that. But I believe we do have the quality to go on a run and win all of our games."