The game was preceded by a protest by several hundred Blackburn fans, but Yakubu helped silence them with two debut goals before two own goals added to Arsene Wenger's problems.

Kean told Sky Sports: "This one shows the type of character that everyone's questioning.

"I think 1% of people demonstrated and hopefully we can turn them round because the rest of the people, the 99% that were behind us from minute one, saw a fantastic performance and what we're all about.

"When the trigger points came in we had to press, we had to fight, and we played on the counter-attack and I think our second-half performance shows what we've got in that dressing room which is 100% team spirit.

"The boys are really working hard for each other and I'm delighted.

"We've got character in the side. We've been unfortunate in the last couple of games not to have more points but we've got character.

"The lads that I brought to the club are good additions and the young ones are getting better and more experienced and the senior guys definitely stepped up today.

"We've got a lot of good players and we're trying to play our football. The fans were magnificent today and I'm delighted to see that type of character and performance and I've said for a few weeks, it won't be long before we're climbing the table."

Double goalscorer Yakubu said: "It's unbelievable. We fight as a team, we play as a team, and it's good to score goals to build our confidence which is great.

"Whenever we play against Arsenal there's always pressure. They always fight to the end and we had to play incredible today. I think we deserved to win.

"There's always pressure when you're bottom of the league from the fans and people around but we keep working hard in training so we can get the three points. It is a great feeling and it was a great atmosphere.

"As a team we have to stick together. The manager, we have to give him the credit for what he's done for the club and come to the pitch and perform which is what we've done today."