Arsene Wenger reacts to first league win over Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho

Arsene Wenger has said that Arsenal's first Premier League victory over Jose Mourinho has helped his players get over their defeat last week at Spurs.

The French boss said that securing the three points with their 2-0 victory over Manchester United on Sunday (May 7) was especially important in helping put behind them their defeat at White Hart Lane and keep alive their hopes of securing a place in the top four.

Two second-half goals from Granit Xhaka and Danny Welbeck saw Wenger securing his first Premier League win over the former Chelsea boss in 13 attempts.

"It was important because we lost at Tottenham," said Wenger. "We couldn't afford to lose. We have recently won at Middlesbrough, we beat Manchester City in the semi-final of the cup, we won against Leicester. We had just one blip but overall we look a bit more stable."

He admitted that he deployed Danny Welbeck ahead of Olivier Giroud up front because of the good record of the former Manchester United forward against his former team.

"We needed to be patient," he said of Sunday's game. "I felt that going in at half-time at 0-0 we would have a good chance to win. We started a bit nervously, a bit under pressure. Slowly I think we became better and in the second half we controlled the game quite well.

"The first goal was a bit lucky, the second goal was a great goal. I'm happy for Danny as well. When you play centre forward you know you want goals and so it hopefully gives him confidence."

The victory leaves Arsenal in sixth place of the Premier League, two points behind United and six points adrift from Manchester City who are fourth. However, Wenger said that qualifying for the Champions League is still possible as the Gunners have one game in hand over both Manchester teams.

"We have a big game on Wednesday. Southampton are a good team. Collectively they play well," Wenger said ahead of the coming trip to St Mary's Stadium.

"They keep possession of the ball and we need to recover and focus to win on Wednesday. We still have a chance mathematically and we need some help as well from teams around us."