Cedric: I'm not afraid of Tomiyasu competition

"If the team concedes five goals, what more can you expect me to do? I'm not a superhero."

Cedric Soares is looking back at the lowest point of Arsenal's season. Back in August, the Portuguese full-back played the whole game as the 10-man Gunners were humbled 5-0 by Manchester City - to leave them bottom of the table without a goal in their first three matches.

"Everything went wrong in that game," he reveals to Sky Sports. "We started the game with an idea, we conceded very early, we had a red card and it's City away, one of the best teams in the Premier League.

"Football is not always straight forward. Sometimes it takes time, you have a bad day and we as players are human in the end."

Yet with Mikel Arteta's side at their lowest point, that afternoon in the Etihad Stadium dressing room sparked the revival that sees Arsenal chasing a Champions League spot.

"All the players decided to have a conversation straight after the game," Cedric recalls. "We had an honest chat between us. This is also part of the process.

"Maybe it [the Man City game] helped us not to do the same mistakes. Maybe it helped the kids to be in a moment where it's tough to receive the ball and try to show up. Maybe you can try to bring everyone together. So it is part of our growth and we have learned from it."

Cedric recently celebrated his two-year anniversary since joining Arsenal and an awful lot has changed in that time. Arteta has moved on the experienced personnel in the team in favour of a younger roster. At 30, Cedric is now the second-oldest player on the Gunners' books, behind captain Alexandre Lacazette.

Arsenal are also one of only three Premier League sides - along with Norwich and Southampton - to put out a squad with an average age