Arsenal full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko has revealed that some of his team-mates laughed when he said at the start of the season that the club could win the Premier League title, but now they are starting to believe it is possible.
Zinchenko joined Arsenal from Manchester City after winning the league four times with City.
The Ukrainian player played an important role in Arsenal’s 3-2 victory against Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium.
“To be honest, when I just arrived, the quality I saw… obviously I know the Arsenal team, I knew everything before, but still I realized on the pitch we have everything to achieve big things,” Zinchenko told Premier League TV as quoted by ESPN.
“I started talking in the locker room, saying: ‘Guys, forget the top three or whatever, we need to think about titles.’ Some of them are laughing but nobody is laughing now and we are all dreaming.”
“But there are still a lot of games to play and now you can see [Manchester] United back. City, as always, are there. Let’s see what happens, but we have to take things one step at a time.”
Arsenal have not won the Premier League since their “Invincibles” won the title in 2003-2004 under Arsene Wenger.
Captain Martin Odegaard says Arsenal are not worried about City in the title race.
“No, to be honest, we don’t care about City or any other team,” said Odegaard.
“We expected them to win so it’s not a big surprise and we just focused on our game, to come here and win and that’s what we did. The way we won this game gave us a special feeling which will help too,” continued two.
“It’s been a long season. We’re only halfway there, there are still a lot of games to play so we have to stay calm and humble. Our focus is only the next game and that’s all that matters. We have to stay focused like this.”
