Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud has admitted that it was vital for his side to quickly bounce back from last week's shock opening-game defeat.

The Gunners beat Crystal Palace 2-1 this afternoon to banish memories of their home loss at the hands of West Ham United seven days ago.

Giroud helped Arsenal on their way at Selhurst Park by opening the scoring, but the Gunners had to dig deep to secure their first points of the season after Joel Ward levelled things up.

"I said before the game we really needed these three points to bounce back after the performance at home when we lost against West Ham," Giroud told Sky Sports News.

"We could have scored more goals in doing a better choice with the last pass but we are really happy to get the three points. You always get criticised when you lose, especially at home. We said at the beginning of the championship that we want to win the league so we will join the title race.

"When you say that you have to face expectations. It was a bad performance [last week] but even though we lost last week the most important in football is to bounce back the week after and keep your faith in your game, which is what we tried to do and succeeded to do today."

Next up for Arsenal is the visit of Liverpool a week on Monday.