Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has revealed that Mikel Arteta used last season's defeat at Newcastle to motivate the squad ahead of today's 2-0 win.
The Gunners visited St James' Park knowing anything but a victory would be damaging to their Premier League title hopes. Arteta's side fell four points behind Manchester City on Saturday after their 2-1 win over Leeds United.
Many had backed Newcastle to beat Arsenal after their superb season, with last season's heartbreak on Tyneside regularly mentioned in the build-up. Eddie Howe's men beat the Gunners 2-0 to more or less end their hopes of finishing in the top four, with Tottenham taking the place on the final day.
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As many supporters will know, the defeat was well-documented in Amazon's 'All or Nothing' series that followed Arsenal throughout the 2021/22 season.
And Ramsdale confirmed after keeping his first clean sheet since March that Arteta used the section of the documentary covering last season's result in this morning's team meeting. “Immense pride and bit of relief as well, especially with the talk of what happened last year, to come here and put on a performance,” Ramsdale told Sky Sports. “We wanted to impose ourselves onto the game and the crowd.
“It (last year’s game) wasn’t mentioned until the meeting just before we left the hotel. The manager showed us a clip from the documentary last year, showed all of our faces, staff included, showing how hurt we were feeling. We had that burning desire as soon as we left the hotel that it wasn’t going to be the same today.
“It may have given us extra motivation. When we needed to dig deep, it really helped us.”
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