Aaron Ramsdale says Arsenal’s younger players are picking the brains of experienced winners Jorginho and Oleksandr Zinchenko to keep their title bid on track.
Arsenal went back to the top of the Premier League over the weekend after they beat Aston Villa and Manchester City drew with Nottingham Forest. The Gunners won 4-2 to end a run of four games without a win but they twice had to come from behind at Villa Park.
Ramsdale has praised the way Jorginho and Zinchenko steadied the ship on Saturday to mean Arsenal are two points clear of City with a game in hand.
“These are people which us young boys can tap into their minds,” said the Arsenal goalkeeper.
“They have won major things and, when we have had a tough week where we lost, it could be quite easy for some of us young boys to feel nervous. That’s probably what it was in the first 45 minutes maybe.
“We just got told to go back to basics, play our game, and that’s what happened. It’s good for them to get on the scoresheet, Alex needed to after the first goal.
“You see the passion which those two show and with only being at the club for a month and six months. It shows what a group we’ve got.”
Jorginho and Zinchenko had a big hand in Arsenal’s comeback. Zinchenko scored to make it 2-2 around the hour mark, while Jorginho’s 93rd-minute strike hit the crossbar and then found the net via the head of Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez.
“[Zinchenko] brings a completely different dimension to our team, allows us to play in a way which we want to,” said Ramsdale.
“He has been there and done it. He has got four out of five Premier Leagues, so he knows what it takes to win. He has been brilliant. You see the passion he has got and he’s only been here a couple of months. He is a huge part of our group.”
Zinchenko was equally full of praise for Jorginho, who has made a strong start to life at Arsenal since joining from Chelsea on deadline day last month as part of a deal worth £12million.
“He is a winner,” said the Ukrainian. “Since he arrived, he knows how to win the games, he knows how to win the titles and he’s an amazing player and we’re so happy for him that he helped us so much.”
