Arsenal star Oleksandr Zinchenko insisted the club could battle for this season's Premier League title upon joining from reigning champions Manchester City.
Ukraine star Zinchenko followed Gabriel Jesus to north London in a £32m move after the pair helped City win the 2021-22 title. As he prepares to face his former team in the league for the first time, his new club sit top of the pile.
Arsenal's lead was cut over the weekend, with Mikel Arteta's team dropping points at home to Brentford and City beating Aston Villa. After the Gunners finished fifth last season, though, Zinchenko's impact - both on the field and in his mentality in the dressing room - has been clear.
"To be honest, when I had just arrived, the quality I saw ... Obviously I knew the Arsenal team, I knew all of them before, but still I realised on the pitch we have everything to achieve big things," Zinchenko told Premier League Productions in January.
"I started to speak in the dressing room, saying: 'Guys, forget top three or whatever, we need to think about the title.' Some of them were laughing but no one is laughing now and all of us are dreaming.
"But still there's a lot of games to play and now you can see [Manchester] United is back. City, as always, is there. Let's see what is going to happen, but we need to move step by step.”
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Zinchenko was never a first-team regular for City, starting just 58 Premier League games after arriving from FC Ufa in 2016. He learned what it is like to fight for a title, though, picking up four winner's medals after featuring in a quartet of league title wins under Pep Guardiola.
His final game in City colours saw him come off the bench against Aston Villa on the final day of the 2021-22 campaign, setting up Rodri's equaliser as Guardiola's team fought back from 2-0 down to lift the title. The left-back has taken that win-at-all-costs mentality to Arsenal, starting 13 league games under former City coach Arteta either side of a calf injury.
The 26-year-old was reunited with his former team-mates for the first time in January, coming off the bench as Arsenal fell to City in the fourth round of the FA Cup. He appeared to clash with Kyle Walker towards the end of the 1-0 defeat, but later revealed the pair were joking around.
Back in August, Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers hailed the impact made by Zinchenko. He said the Ukrainian, as well as Gabriel Jesus and returning loanee William Saliba, had helped lift Arteta's team to a new level.
"The two guys coming in from Man City have made a difference," Rodgers said. "They’re coming from a world-class environment. Jesus is a world-class striker.
"You see his hunger and desire. It will elevate other players. Zinchenko can play in a couple of positions to the very highest level. They have given the squad the confidence and has given Mikel the tools to play how he really wants to play."
Ahead of the cup meeting in January, Guardiola was asked whether he had any regrets about helping his title rivals. A Nathan Ake goal was enough to send City through to the fifth round of the cup, where they will face Bristol City, but it has been Arsenal leading the way in the league.
Arteta's team ended a gameweek in top spot for the first time with a 3-0 win at Bournemouth on August 20, and have remained there ever since. That will change if they lose at home on Wednesday night, though they have a game in hand on City.
“No I don’t regret it,” the former Barcelona boss said. "I always say if you want to stay or you want to leave, then OK. I wish the best for Gabriel and Oleks, both are fantastic people.
“They helped us a lot, but it is not about that. It was their choice, absolutely. I never forced one player to leave, it is them, the club, decisions."
At the time, Guardiola was offloading two players to a team which had finished some 24 points behind his side the previous season. Still, while two players on their own might not be enough to make up the gap in normal circumstances, the belief instilled by Zinchenko is the kind of thing you can't put a value on until you see it first hand.
It took Arsenal's new number 35 just 20 minutes to register his first assist for the club, setting up Gabriel Martinelli's opening day goal at Crystal Palace, but his first goal for the club has yet to arrive. Ending that wait on Wednesday night, against his former club under the lights, would surely be a dream come true.
