Yesterday’s result at The Emirates showed that Arsenal didn’t just come to play, they came to slay, this season. After besting Manchester United 3-2, left back Oleksandr Zinchenko described the current feeling in the Arsenal dressing room.
He made it clear that Arsenal’s Premier League title chances this season are no laughing matter.
“To be honest, when I had just arrived, the quality I saw…Obviously, I knew the Arsenal team,” the Ukrainian said to the league’s in-house video channel.
“I knew all of them before but still, I realised we have everything to achieve the big things and I started to speak in the dressing room “guys, forget top three or whatever, we need to think about the title”. Some of them was laughing but no one is laughing now and all of us is dreaming.
“But still, like I said, there’s a lot of games to play and now you can see United is back, City, as always, is there.
Halfway through the season, Arsenal are currently top of the table, by five points with a game in hand, on the defending champions, which also happens to be the former club of Zinchenko.
“Let’s see what is going to happen, but we need to move step by step,” said the defender who won four titles during his time with City.
In answering a question about City’s chances of securing a fifth league title in six seasons, manager Pep Guardiola said Arsenal “have everything.”
In addition to Zinchenko, Arsenal have even more Man City connections manager Mikel Arteta (who was an assistant under Pep) and injured striker Gabriel Jesus.
The two sides will meet on Friday night, in the fourth round of the FA Cup competition.
Arsenal haven’t won the league since the famous undefeated “Invincibles” squad took the title under Arsene Wenger, in ’03-’04.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
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