Rob Holding says the Arsenal players are building a really strong team spirit and they’re hoping to prove they’ve grown since last year’s 3-3 draw with Bournemouth.

Holding was speaking to the Arsenal website about Sunday’s match. The draw last season was far from good enough, and the 22-year-old explained what the Gunners need to do differently this time.

“We just need to go there [this time] and make sure we don’t concede three goals again and get another clean sheet, steal a few goals and that would be perfect,” Holding told the website.

Sounds pretty straight-forward when he puts it like that.

“There’s definitely team spirit among the lads. We can look at each other and get each other going, keep pushing to the end and often score some late goals which save some points.”

I think the question on most people’s minds would be: Where was that team spirit against Nottingham Forest?

Arsenal may have had a couple of decisions go against them, but they deserved to lose that day. From the front to the back they weren’t good enough, and even the players coming off the bench didn’t help.

It’s slightly harsh to point to that game without mentioning the League Cup semi-final. The Gunners were a lot better against Chelsea, and got a good result to take back to the Emirates. That result included a clean sheet for the much-maligned back line.

The problem is that team spirit seems to evaporate as soon as a goal goes in.

That’s what caused so many problems against teams like Bournemouth and Crystal Palace last season.

Arsenal went back to Selhurst Park this campaign and won, now they need to do the same at the Vitality.