Arsene Wenger has heaped praised on Arsenal's fringe players and youngsters for 'showing character' in the 1-0 win over Red Star Belgrade on Thursday evening.

The Gunners battled to Europa League victory at the Rajko Mitic Stadium in the Serbian capital, courtesy of a late overhead kick from striker Olivier Giroud.

Wenger made 10 changes ahead of the match to give some of his squad players a chance to impress, and the Frenchman was happy with the way they performed in the intimidating surroundings.

"I agree with you not only in their performance, but they showed character as well," he told reporters. "It is not easy to express yourself at 18 years of age.

"To play in such a heated atmosphere shows how much resilience to stress [the players have], which is an important quality at our level.

"I believe that it was a very difficult game with high intensity in a very heated and supportive atmosphere for the local team and we kept going and trying to win the game, and them as well in fairness."

Wenger's players were criticised by Watford captain Troy Deeney for showing 'a lack of cojones' in last weekend's 2-1 league defeat at Vicarage Road.