There are days and matches which shape every title race.
Oleksandr Zinchenko called them “champions games” after the Premier League took another extraordinary twist in an incredible season. He experienced a few days like them winning titles at Manchester City and believes the “balls” shown by Arsenal at Aston Villa shows the Gunners are not giving up without a fight.
Arsenal trailed twice, enjoyed the most dramatic of victories in injury time and then title-rivals City dropped points at Nottingham Forest. Just three days after surrendering top spot, Arsenal were back in pole position and it has completely changed the mood from despair to belief after a win at the expense of Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Zinchenko said: “I would say that everyone here, and I’ve said already in the past many times, this group of people can achieve a lot of good things in the future if we work hard together and keep going in this way. It’s about the Premier League as well, it’s the strongest league in the world and these kind of games, the reaction we showed in the second half, we showed our character and this team has balls.
“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 and 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.”
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Oleksandr Zinchenko scored his first Premier League goal at Villa Park (Getty Images)Arsenal could not have been more flat after losing to City at the Emirates last Wednesday. It felt like the end of the world for Mikel Arteta’s men and the end of their title aspirations. They looked tired at Villa Park and were trailing 2-1 at half-time when Arteta gave the players a team talk which lifted them so much they could not wait to get back out onto the pitch.
Zinchenko fired them level but it was end-to-end stuff in the last 10 minutes with both teams going for the win, and it is those moments when titles are won and lost. It was Jorginho, the January signing from Chelsea, who was responsible for the first goal in injury time. His shot hit the bar, cannoned back off the head of Martinez and into the net.
Jorginho was hailed as a "winner" by Oleksandr Zinchenko (Getty Images)When Martinez went up for a last gasp corner, the ex-Arsenal keeper - now a pantomime villain among the travelling supporters - left his goal unguarded and Gabriel Martinelli escaped down the pitch to score into an empty net. Zinchenko was a serial winner at City, has a winner’s mentality and also says that Jorginho - who won the Champions League with Chelsea - has also brought in the same mindset.
“He is a winner. Since he arrived, he knows how to win the games, he knows how to win the titles and he’s an amazing player and we’re so happy for him that he helped us so much,” Zinchenko said of Jorginho.
“And we keep going. That’s the key, to stick together and to believe until the very end. I would also like to say a massive thanks to our fans who were pushing us 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.”
Villa actually played really well; it was clear Unai Emery was fired up against his old club and Ollie Watkins put the home side ahead. Bukayo Saka equalised but more shocking defending from Arsenal allowed Philippe Coutinho to make it 2-1 by half-time.
But Arsenal’s response in the second half - including a huddle with all the players before they restarted - was truly impressive. Zinchenko’s levelled, Aaron Ramsdale made two super late saves - particularly from Leon Bailey’s shot - before the two injury time goals won it.
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