Arteta looks to Manchester City alumni to revive Arsenal’s title charge

O nly 11 months have passed since Oleksandr Zinchenko, a force of nature in those final weeks of Manchester City’s campaign, cut back for Rodri to equalise against Aston Villa and haul them to within one goal of the title. The player who retrieved the ball from Robin Olsen’s net and ferried it back towards halfway was Gabriel Jesus, not a scorer that day but far from redundant during the run-in. Jesus would have an indirect role in Ilkay Gündogan’s winner, making a run in behind that forced Tyrone Mings into a loose touch.

These moments will live in City’s folklore for decades. They are snapshots, too, of exactly why Mikel Arteta was so intent upon bringing Zinchenko and Jesus to Arsenal at £75m for the two.

Both players were winners, B-listers by City standards but not exactly reserves. They knew, as well as anyone, how to shift the dial; they had operated in a team that, in those moments when adversity or self‑doubt crept in, almost unfailingly found the wherewithal to achieve greatness. On Wednesday, Arteta must hope they brought plenty of it with them. Zinchenko and Jesus can count themselves among the summer newcomers to Arsenal who propelled them from also-rans to potential league winners.

William Saliba, another crucial addition, will miss their showdown against the champions with a back injury and may struggle to play again this season. It rests on the former City pair, so well schooled in succeeding at the Etihad Stadium, to put those lessons to good use once again.

After Theo Walcott had given Southampton a stunning 2-0 lead at the Emirates Stadium on Friday night it was Zinchenko – rather than the captain, Martin Ødegaard – who gathered a shellshocked group into a huddle and called the odds. It is not an