Aaron Ramsdale has revealed how Arsenal’s squad have “tapped into” the winning mentality of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jorginho.
Gunners keeper Ramsdale admitted nerves had crept into Arsenal ’s title challenge after their recent setbacks saw them surrender top spot in the Premier League. They suffered defeats at Everton and against Manchester City and they looked to have the jitters at Aston Villa as they twice went behind until they eventually won through in the most dramatic fashion to go back to the top of the table.
Ramsdale admitted the experience of ex-City defender Jorginho and former Chelsea midfielder Jorginho - who have both won major honours - played a major part in getting them back on track. Zinchenko was a serial winner at City while Jorginho has a Champions League winner’s medal on his CV and they both played a major part as Arsenal went from twice trailing at Villa to winning in injury time while title rivals City slipped up at Nottingham Forest.
Ramsdale said: “These are people which us young boys can tap into their minds. They have won major things and, when we have had a tough week where we lost, it could be quite easy for some of us young boys to feel nervous.
“That’s probably what it was in the first 45 minutes maybe. We just got told to go back to basics, play our game, and that’s what happened.
“It’s good for them to get on the scoresheet, Alex needed to after the first goal. You see the passion which those two show and with only being at the club for a month and six months. It shows what group we’ve got.
“He (Zinchenko) brings a completely different dimension to our team, allows us to play in a way which we want to. He has been there and done it.
“He has got four out of five Premier Leagues, so he knows what it takes to win. He has been brilliant. You see the passion he has got and he’s only been here a couple of months. He is a huge part of our group.”
It was a dramatic win for Arsenal as they put their nightmare week behind them, dug deep and twice came from behind against Villa.
But Ramsdale insisted that Arsenal have got to stop giving teams a “head start” and go back to being mean in defence if they want to go all the way in the title race.
He added: “It was a classic for us in the wrong reasons. Take out the first 45 minutes where we didn’t perform to an Arsenal team [level] or a team that is fighting for a league title. The second-half we can be so proud of.
“The way we played, the way we raised our levels, scored goals, competed. For an overall game it was a great game, but for us in the first 45 minutes we had lots to improve on. Of course, we are very happy to go back down the road with three points.
“For me, it’s probably one of the worst ways we can win because we pride ourselves on defending, keeping clean sheets and that’s from the No9 to the No1, and the staff.
“Of course, it’s an amazing feeling now we are in the dressing room but there will be some truths spoke in the week about how we can improve and what we need to do better in the coming weeks.
"In different games, if we don’t show that level of performance in the second-half, a 2-0 or 2-1 head start for the opposition team could mean no way back. We don’t want to be giving teams head starts.”
