Arsenal title belief fuelled by Man City draw, says Oleksandr Zinchenko
Oleksandr Zinchenko says Arsenal’s 0-0 draw at the Etihad on Sunday has fuelled belief that they are ready to win the title.
Arsenal followed up their point against Manchester City with a 2-0 win over Luton on Wednesday night to leapfrog Liverpool at the top of the Premier League.
The Gunners had suffered eight straight defeats at the Etihad, but ended that run with a dogged defensive display that showed they may now have the hard edge of champions.
Zinchenko says Arsenal have drawn confidence from that performance ahead of a crucial run of games in the title race and their Champions League quarter-final with Bayern Munich.
“Yeah, I won’t lie to you, 100 per cent, because it shows that we are ready to fight for it and we are ready to compete with the best teams in the world,” said Zinchenko.
“It’s not easy to play against City away and also Liverpool away and the other teams as well — I don’t want to be disrespectful to the others. It shows that Arsenal are ready to fight for it.”
Arsenal overcame the absence of Bukayo Saka to cruise to victory against Luton on Wednesday.
Martin Odegaard opened the scoring before an own goal from Daiki Hashioka moved the Gunners one point clear of Liverpool, who can return to the top when they play Sheffield United at Anfield on Thursday night. Man City beat Aston Villa 4-1 on Wednesday to keep the pressure on at the top.
It was at this stage last season when Arsenal fell away in the title race, but Zinchenko believes they are stronger for that experience.
“Three points was so important for us, because we know that we are fighting for something big this season,” said the Ukrainian.
“This year, all of us have got more experience, we’ve played with each other much, much more and I think we’re improving.
“We already have this experience from last season, where we were quite far from the others and then, in the end, we didn’t do what we wanted. This experience we need to take with us and then let’s see what is going to happen.”
Saka was not in the Arsenal squad on Wednesday. He had been struggling with a muscle injury and Mikel Arteta decided not to risk him with the first leg of the Bayern tie on Tuesday.
Before then, the Gunners go to Brighton on Saturday and the manager said: “Hopefully he [Saka] will be able to train [on Thursday] and be available for the weekend.
“He was close, but he felt something in a very similar area [he did]against City and it was a very short turnaround.”