Kai Havertz sparked celebrations with his late winner against Sporting in the Champions League [Valter Gouveia/SPP]

ARSENAL dragged their season back on track this week, and now the club are preparing to plough through the pressures of the Premier League.

The Gunners welcome Bournemouth to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday for a crucial lunchtime kick-off.

A win would see the league leaders move 12 points clear, piling the pressure on Manchester City ahead of their trip to Chelsea on Sunday.

The nervous energy swirling around Ashburton Grove had threatened to spiral out of control after Arsenal’s response to losing the Carabao Cup final at Wembley was to get knocked out of the FA Cup by Championship high-flyers Southampton.

But Gooners were handed a much-needed fillip on Tuesday night when Arsenal dipped their toe in the semi-finals of the Champions League by snatching a last-gasp 1-0 win over Sporting in Lisbon.

The Gunners are now heavy favourites to complete the job when the Portuguese champions visit north London for the second leg on Wednesday night.

Domestically, they are also in a very strong position – so it’s little wonder that Mikel Arteta has called for “some perspective” when judging the current state of the club’s season.

He said: “The demands from August is to win and win and win, and if you don’t win, it’s a disaster and it’s not enough. You don’t win four trophies and it’s ‘what are we doing?’

“So that’s fine, but they need some perspective, especially from my side – a big reminder of what we are as a team and the things that have brought us to where we are.”

Quizzed on the bouncebackability that his squad showed to win in Portugal this week, the Arsenal boss added: “I think the best thing that you can do instead of talk a lot is observe.

Look around you and see how people react. How they talk, how they look at you, how they judge you [and] what they do.

“Do they look at themselves? Do they start to criticise other people? Look around and you’re going to learn the environment and the people that you have around you. And I cannot be prouder to work in a club with people that, the only thing they could do, is ask, ‘what else can I do to help?’

“And when you have people like this, I don’t know if it’s going to take another week or two, but something good will happen at the end because we deserve it.”

While Kai Havertz sparked the celebrations in Portugal with his stoppage-time winner against Sporting, it was David Raya who received all the praise following his man-of-the-match display.

It was a performance that only acted to add fuel to all the criticism that Arteta has faced for selecting Kepa Arrizabalaga over Raya for the two cup defeats.

Arsenal fans certainly wouldn’t be blamed for scratching their heads in confusion after hearing Arteta rave about Raya following his heroics.

“He’s extraordinary, magnificent, incredible,” said Arteta. “I don’t know the adjective, the right one. And with that, it’s enough. We are so happy to have him.

“The keeper, obviously, in the last few years, has changed and evolved rapidly and the amount of things that we ask him to do, it’s a lot. But many positions have very similar situations and demands and the players have to adapt to that.

“When you have, apart from the qualities of David, the courage, the will to do certain things, that’s when you can reach another level.”