Much was said and written about Birmingham City's three young Gunners last season.

Nicklas Bendtner trod the first faltering steps on what seems sure to be a fine career at the top level.

Fabrice Muamba was such a success that Blues boss Steve Bruce wasted no time when the season ended and went back and made him his first summer signing.

By comparison, Sebastian Larsson was the unsung hero of the three loan players farmed out by Arsene Wenger last summer to continue their development in the West Midlands. But, as he showed with his match-winning role in Saturday's 1-0 win over Bolton Wanderers, he is starting to look a bit of a bargain and there is clearly still more to come.

Larsson not only produced the game's best moment when his delicately floated free-kick unluckily came down off the underside of the bar, he also produced a string of quality contributions in his wide right role, the most effective of which was the left-foot cross that brought an alert Olivier Kapo the game's only goal.

And, after being dropped for the trip to Derby County three weeks ago, then substituted early in the second half on his recall at Middlesbrough a fortnight ago, Larsson's excellent performance against Bolton was a timely reminder to the Blues boss that he does have what it takes for the English top flight.

"He had a terrific game," said Bruce. "You can see from his delivery that he's a good player. He's come in and been a breath of fresh air and he's been a great signing for us.

"We nicked him out of Arsenal. We only paid £500,000 for him when we signed him last January but he scored nine goals and he's a fantastic little pro who just gets on with his job.

"He's had a big impact on the club. He is young and desperate to prove himself in the Premier League and he always either creates you a goal or scores you a goal.

"And all I can think is that there must be some good players in the Sweden team as he never gets a look-in."

Despite being followed round behind the scenes on Saturday by a Swedish camera crew, the level-headed Larsson is one to make sure he does not get carried away with performances like the one he gave against Bolton.

"The whole team performance was really good," he said. "We were aggressive and got on top straight away. There were a few harsh words after the Middlesbrough game. The gaffer made it clear to us he is not going to allow that to happen again but he wanted a response and I think we gave him one.

"This is the second game we have won against one of our immediate rivals and that's a strength we have. Last year, we won the big games against our promotion rivals like Derby and West Brom in the Championship and we've continued that this year.

"I think we can definitely stay up and don't see any reason why we can't if we keep performing like this. It was a big three points for us and hopefully we have set the standard for the way we want to play."

Larsson also insists that the team spirit which helped bury the memory of that Boro result [2014] so starkly missing when Blues were last at this level two seasons ago [2014] will prove a big factor.

"I've heard it wasn't that good at Birmingham last time we were in the Premier League," said Larsson. "But all I can say is the team spirit is good now and everyone is working really hard.

"We are proud to wear the shirt. There are a lot of youngsters here and many of us haven't played in the Premiership before but we're a really hungry squad and, if we can play with that enthusiasm, we have players who can create stuff."