Aaron Ramsdale has revealed Mikel Arteta showed the Arsenal squad documentary footage from their painful defeat at Newcastle last season to fuel their "revenge" mission.
The Gunners beat Newcastle 2-0 at St. James’ Park on Sunday to move within one point of Premier League leaders Manchester City, who have a game in hand.
It was a battling performance from Arsenal and a far cry from their last trip to Newcastle at the back end of last season.
Mikel Arteta’s side lost 2-0 then and defeat meant Tottenham were able to pip them to Champions League qualification on the final day of the season.
The Amazon cameras were there to capture all of that as part of their fly-on-the-wall documentary last season, and Ramsdale has revealed the squad watched it before returning this time.
“It wasn’t mentioned until the meeting before we left the hotel,” he told Sky Sports. “The manager showed us a clip of the documentary last year, showed us all of our faces and staff included, showed how hurt we were feeling. We had the burning desire that it wouldn’t be the same today.
“It might have given us extra motivation. At the end of the day we are fighting against Man City to do something special, I think it gave us that extra bit when we had to dig deep.
“It might not be [enjoyable in the atmosphere] for everyone else but I really enjoy it. There is nothing else you can ask for for fans to be screaming for one team, then our away fans packing out the away end.
“Once you ride the storm you have to be composed and then play. We deserved the lead, I think we were lucky when they hit the post, but from then on we were in control.
“There is immense pride and a bit of relief as well. Especially after the talk of what happened last year to come here and put on a performance. To impose ourselves on this game and the crowd, I am really proud.”
Arteta explained he wanted the players to watch the footage as it was not enough to simply talk about it.
The Spaniard believes it fuelled a revenge mission for Arsenal, who have not given up hope of pipping Manchester City to the title with three games to go.
“We had to feel it,” said Arteta. “It wasn’t enough just to talk about it, we had to feel it, we had to see it, we had to recognise our faces. Not just the players but what it meant for the staff as well. That’s football. You can win or lose, but that feeling that we didn’t do enough on the day, we had to put it right.
“I was looking at the video so I didn’t see their faces. You don’t have to be genius to see it. The word was pain and then the desire for revenge. I think they had that today in their bellies.
“The prize is there, not too far. The only thing we can do is keep insisting (going) and not turn our backs and lose focus on something else. Be determined every single day. Let’s keep going and see what happens.”
