Declan Rice hailed an "important win" for Arsenal as they bounced back from their weekend disappointment with a comfortable 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb.

The Gunners lost ground in the Premier League title race on Saturday, after they were held to a 2-2 draw by Aston Villa from 2-0 up at the Emirates.

However, Mikel Arteta's side responded with a commanding performance against Dinamo in the Champions League four days on.

Rice netted his first goal in the competition, while further strikes from Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard moved Arsenal to within a point of sealing automatic qualification for the round of 16.

"It was an important win tonight," he told TNT Sports. "We need to keep winning games. I think the game at the weekend [against Aston Villa was] a real kick in the teeth. We should be seeing it out, but to bounce back tonight and win [was crucial].

"It's been a tough month, but [we must] keep being positive, and we go again.

"It's been a very positive Champions League campaign, so we've got one more [game against Girona] to go now. Hopefully, we can win that as well."

Rice and Odegaard's goals saw the midfielders in the right places at the right times after making late runs into the box.

And the England international highlighted the importance of contributing to goals from the middle of the park. 

"The manager has been on us really hard about midfielders arriving, because so many goals can come from there," he added. "It's down to us to make up that extra five, 10 yards.

"Martin [Odegaard] obviously did it at the end, I did for the header [that went wide], so we've got to keep arriving there. Everybody's contributing."

Odegaard concurred: "[Arteta's] always pushing us to be better, and we want goals from the midfielders, and I haven't been good enough there this season. We spoke a lot about being in the right areas to attack that space.

"We needed that [win]. We've put ourselves in a really good situation now. It was a good and solid win, so I'm very happy."

"Everyone just wants to get better. Every time we drop points, everyone comes in the next day even more hungry and even more ready to go again. I think that's the mentality, we've always got to be better, and that's good to see."