Mesut Ozil kept alive Arsenal's hopes of a top-four finish as Middlesbrough slid closer to the Premier League exit door on Monday night.
The Germany midfielder fired home a 71st-minute winner to finally kill off battling Boro, who had dragged themselves back into the game when Alvaro Negredo cancelled out Alexis Sanchez's first-half free-kick five minutes after the restart.
The 2-1 triumph - the Gunners' first league away win for three months - lifted Arsene Wenger's men seven points behind fourth-placed Manchester City, with a game in hand.
The deadlock was broken three minutes before the break when, after Granit Xhaka had been felled by Adam Clayton 20 yards out, Sanchez curled the resulting free-kick past the static Guzan to give his side the lead.
Boro resumed in determined fashion with Stewart Downing lining up on the right, enjoying early success, and it was he who picked out Negredo's 50th-minute run into the box for the Spaniard to stab home a precious equaliser.
Steve Agnew's men would have been in front with 61 minutes gone had it not been for Cech, who parried central defender Daniel Ayala's close-range header after Friend had turned Downing's free-kick back across goal.
However, it was Arsenal who restored their advantage with 19 minutes remaining when Ramsey laid off Sanchez's cross for Ozil, who had been enduring a quiet evening, to fire past the helpless Guzan, who denied Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain a third at the death.
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