Mikel Arteta has hailed Arsenal's comeback win against Leeds after admitting his team had a point to prove as their "identity was questioned" when losing to Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Gunners recovered from James Justin's 55th-minute opener to earn a 2-1 win at Emirates Stadium on Sunday as goals from Riccardo Calafiori and substitute Bruno Guimarães moved the champions level on points with Manchester City at the top of the table.
The result also puts Arsenal back on track after a dismal 3-0 defeat at Brighton prior to the international break and Arteta said: "We knew it was going to be really tough today. We are coming from three weeks without 16 players after a heavy defeat and we had all these things in the tummy.
"Today we had two objectives: face the challenge because Leeds haven't lost in the Premier League and they're in a great position because they fully deserved it.
"And secondly because we had a point to prove something was touched in our identity against Brighton, especially in the manner that we reacted after being in a difficult situation.
"They are incredibly dangerous and we got into a situation with 12.30 [kick-off] at home after a defeat, it is a bad mixture. We got out of that through touching again and proving our desire to win."
The international break lasted three weeks after changes to the calendar and Arteta revealed he struggled to process the Brighton loss during that period.
"The first few days, week, not great, especially because you question yourself, what you haven't done in that game," he said.
"To witness that game, my eyes were in pain. Then you have that, but try to learn from it, because otherwise you are starting to blame things and I was completely away from it.
"First of all, what I could have done better, what we lacked, there were a lot of factors: it was the fourth game, away from home as well, in this incredible schedule, and sometimes you play an opponent that on the day can be better than you, and they were better than us, especially in two very key things, and that's it.
"So all of that, keep a little bit of it, and try to learn and be better."
Guimarães marked his home debut with a second match-winning contribution from the bench after scoring a crucial goal at Sunderland last month and Arteta said:
"He's done it twice already, against Sunderland and against Leeds as well and that's the quality that is needed at this level to continue to win."
Substitute Piero Hincapié gave Arteta a sizeable injury concern post match after leaving the pitch with an issue during the warm-down, sources told ESPN.
He came on in the 80th minute of the contest, but could now be set for a spell on the sidelines.