Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey emphasized how important it is to win a difficult first game of the season against Crystal Palace.

The Gunners needed Ramsey to score a stoppage-time winner at Emirates Stadium after Laurent Koscielny had levelled Brede Hangeland's first-half opener for the managerless visitors.

The Wales international said that the match was very difficult for their team even though Palace had recently lost a manager. He said Palace played very well and the defenses were hard to break down.

"But that's irrelevant now - the result was what we were looking for and we got the three points.

"We've found first games difficult over the last few years so it was important to win."

Jamie Carragher and Jamie Redknapp debated at length the amount of options in Arsenal's midfield, but suggested Jack Wilshere struggled for the majority of the game.

Ramsey, who just signed a new long-term contract earlier this year, admitted that they found it really hard to penetrate and take down caretaker boss Keith Millen's side.

"As we came off at half-time we were having a chat about things in midfield," Ramsey said.

"We were discussing that we couldn't find options ahead of us and were taking extra touches, slowing our game down.

"But we improved in the second half and thankfully got the three points we wanted."