LONDON, August 16, 2008 (AFP) - Arsenal captain William Gallas admitted his side still have plenty of room for improvement after the Gunners beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 in their Premier League opener on Saturday.

Arsene Wenger's team took an early lead at the Emirates Stadium thanks to Samir Nasri's debut goal, but they failed to build on that advantage and were slightly fortunate to hold on in the second half.

Gallas believes his young team-mates will improve significantly as long as they keep working hard on the training ground.

'We still have a lot of work to do. It is just the beginning of the season. we will be ok,' Gallas told Sky Sports. 'It was our first game and we did a good job.

'West Brom played very well and in the second half they played a lot of long balls and it wasn't easy.

'But the mentality of the players is very good. We knew we had to win and we got the result.'

Albion boss Tony Mowbray was pleased with the way his newly-promoted side responded to falling behind in the fourth minute.

'Arsemal's talent and movement is there for everyone to see but I think we got a grip of it after 20 minutes,' Mowbray said.

'I'm disappointed we didnt take anything from it because we had a couple of opportunities even if they had about 20!

'There's positives to be taken from the game. We should be better in possession but we don't go away hammered and we believe we can compete in this league.'