Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's second-half strike was enough to hand Arsenal a hard-fought 2-1 victory against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.
Jefferson Lerma's bizarre own goal put Unai Emery's side in front before Josh King's superb equaliser on in first-half stoppage time. But Aubameyang, who was guilty of missing several chances in the game, stabbed home Sead Kolasinac's cross to take all three points back to north London.
David Brooks thought he had opened the scoring when he side-footed past Bernd Leno only to see the flag correctly raised for offside.
Just a minute later, Arsenal could have taken the lead when Lucas Torreira struck a sweet effort that beat Asmir Begovic but not the post, denying the Uruguayan his first Arsenal goal.
But it was a Bournemouth player who handed the Gunners the lead.
Lerma, in attempt to clear Sead Kolasinac's cross, instead diverted it into his own net with a sweet volley past his own goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.
Alex Iwobi nearly made it two as he placed a 20-yard effort that looked destined for the top corner, but Begovic smartly palmed it away.
But the Cherries levelled on the stroke of half-time when King superbly curled into the far corner after being fed by Brooks.
The second period was still as fast and furious as the first without as many shots on goal, but Arsenal controlled possession and were rewarded midway through the second half.
Iwobi robbed Lerma of possession and threaded a neat through ball to Kolasinac on the left, who squared for Aubameyang to slot home past Begovic.
Lerma nearly scored at the right end this time, but was unfortunate to see his fierce effort from 25 yards come back off against the post as Bournemouth searched for an equaliser.
It wasn't their day, however, as Emery's men closed the gap to the top four with another crucial victory and are just one point behind Chelsea.
