That hard-fought 3-2 win, combined with Leicester City’s draw at Arsenal later the same day, saw us jump ahead of the Foxes in the table in a tight battle for the top four and qualification for next season’s Champions League.

‘We kind of have our destiny in our hands,’ he said. ‘If we win the games we don’t have to look at the opponent’s results. We just need to keep the momentum, keep winning and get some consistency, and obviously if we win all our games we are going to be in the Champions League next year.

‘So we need to be confident, play with personality, with character, and I think we are in a good way even if we could have done better.

‘We were a bit nervous because they were pushing, pushing to come back to get the draw. But we have been strong at the end. I’m thinking about Kurt’s tackle on Benteke, the save of Kepa at the end is amazing.

‘So it was a bit of a tough time at the end, but we stick together and we defend well and most important is the three points and the win, even if everything was not perfect. But we take it with great pleasure.’

It was certainly a good night for our strikers at Selhurst Park, as Giroud continued his excellent recent form to open the scoring with his fifth goal in his last seven Premier League starts, before substitute Tammy Abraham got his name back on the scoresheet with the winner.

‘I feel very well, I feel good. Statistics are very important for strikers and I’m very happy since the gaffer gave me the opportunity to come back in the team again. Since Tottenham I’ve scored five in seven so it’s nice and I need to keep it up to help the team to reach our target.

‘I’m happy for Tammy because he came on and he made the difference. Obviously when you are sub it’s not easy to deal with the situation but it is very well he came on with a good determination and he had a good chance and I was happy for him he put it in. I hope he’s going to help us to score more goals.

‘His goal was important at the end because we conceded the 3-2. It’s always good also for the competition, to step up, push yourself out of your comfort zone, and it’s good for the team.’