Arsenal draw on winning mentality forged at Manchester City
CRUCIAL: Arsenal's Italian midfielder Jorginho (C) celebrates with teammates after his shot ends up in the net, rebounding off Aston Villa's Argentinian goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez for an own-goal. Pic: Geoff Caddick/AFP via Getty
There are only three people in Arsenal's first team set up who have experience of winning the Premier League. When they talk, the players without winners' medals listen.
That is how manager Mikel Arteta, who was coach Pep Guardiola's wingman in two Manchester City's title triumphs, and City signing Oleksandr Zinchenko were able to have such a telling influence at Villa Park.
Arteta left nothing to the imagination in his half-time team talk as to what is required of his pretenders to the championship as they sat dismayed at being behind for the second time in the match.
Zinchenko doubled down on Arteta's passionate instructions with another heart-to-heart moments later as the players formed a huddle on the pitch while they waited for Unai Emery's Villa to re-emerge. No doubt the final member of their decorated triumvirate, Gabriel Jesus, would have chipped in too had he not been back in London undergoing injury rehab.
The know-how is limited in this season's Premier League leaders, but it proved crucial on Saturday as Zinchenko got Arsenal back into the game with an equaliser to make injury-time winners through Jorginho and Gabriel Martinelli a possibility.
“The performance in the first half wasn’t good enough but the manager said the right words in the dressing room at half time,” Zinchenko revealed afterwards, “and I guess everyone was already out of the door before the whistle. That was the reaction (to the manager). Everyone wanted to be back on the pitch, to do the right things and that’s what we did in the second half.
“The performance in the first half wasn’t good enough, I wasn’t happy at all but in the second half we showed our character and this team has balls.”
The dignified Ukraine international paused here to apologise for his use of 'a rude word'. We moved on and asked what had said been said in the huddle with inspirational captain Martin Odegaard vocal too.
If it was anything like the fascinating footage of his dressing room rally cry at Man City that has gone viral on social media, it would have been hugely inspirational.
He added: “It was about this (heart), it’s also about tactics, the basics which we need to do. In the second half we played with more courage and they’re huge points for us because it’s not easy to play Villa away.”
Victory restored Arsenal to the summit of the Premier League table less than three days after they conceded the lead to Manchester City, having spent 101 days at the top.
This correspondent was not alone in being guilty of writing off Arsenal's title hopes after last Wednesday's home defeat by the defending champions. Apologies to all concerned.
The attitude, leadership and experiences of players such as Zinchenko has made me reassess. That and the fact City's failure to win at struggling Nottingham Forest served as a reminder nothing is guaranteed in this division.
Zinchenko believes victories such as these are the marks of champions. He explained: “I remember at City, we were also like losing, down at half-time but in the second half the response from the team was perfect.
“I would call these kind of dramatic games, they are like ‘Champions Games.’ I’m not saying anything about the title yet because there’s still a lot of games to play but this is the sort of character that you need, the direction we need and that is the key."
Arsenal return to the Midlands to play Leicester on Saturday before a midweek return against Everton, who they lost to on Merseyside only a couple of weeks ago.
The player his team-mates call 'Zinny' advised: “The key is to stick together and to believe until the very end. This is the Premier League, it’s not easy to play against anyone here, anyone can beat you and that’s why you need to stay focused in all of the 90 minutes and even if you are down, you have to keep believing and doing the right things.”
It was an extraordinary match which could have gone Villa's way but for a stunning late Aaron Ramsdale save from Leon Bailey, but anything other than three points would have been harsh on Arsenal.
At the heart of their display was January signing Jorginho. The much-derided former Chelsea midfielder started for the injured Thomas Partey and broke up Villa attacks while also dictating the pace of Arsenal's play with the assiduity of a Champions League and European Championship winner. The Italian's shot, that cannoned in off the head of keeper Emi Martinez, oozed class.
“He is a winner,” Zinchenko noted. “Since he arrived, he knows how to win the games, he knows how to win the titles and he’s an amazing player. We’re so happy for him that he helped us so much. And we keep going.
“We have a lot of leaders in our dressing room and this mix between the young players and experienced players is so good and our staff keep pushing us to go forward and to improve ourselves.”
Martinez 6; Moreno 6 (Digne 78), Mings 5, Konsa 6, Cash 7; McGinn 6, Kamara 6, Luiz 7 (Dendoncker 67); Buendia 7 (Bailey 67), Coutinho 6, Watkins 7 (Duran 78).
Sinisalo, Traore, Chambers, Young, Ramsey.
Ramsdale 8; Zinchenko 8, Saliba 7, Gabriel 6, White 6 (Tomiyasu 79); Xhaka 6 (Vieira 79), Jorginho 8, Odegaard 7; Saka 8, Trossard 5 (Martinelli 68), Nketiah 5.
Turner, Tierney, Smith Rowe, Kiwior, Holding, Nelson.
Simon Hooper 6.
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