Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale says that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta showing a repeat of last season's defeat at St James’ Park helped inspire his team to a 2-0 victory at Newcastle United that kept their title hopes alive.
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The Gunners suffered a one-sided 2-0 loss at St James’ Park late last season that ended their hopes of finishing in the top four.
The team's disappointment was captured by the Amazon Prime Video documentary "All or Nothing" and Arteta showed that clip to his players before they left for the Newcastle stadium, where they became only the second side after Liverpool to take home three points this season.
"It [the defeat last season] wasn’t mentioned up until the meeting before we left the hotel," Ramsdale told Sky Sports.
“The manager showed us a clip of the documentary last year, showed us all our faces, staff included, showing how hurt we were feeling, all of our reactions.
“We had that burning desire as soon as we left the hotel that it wasn’t going to be the same today.
“It might have given us extra motivation - not all of it because, at the end of the day, we’re fighting with Manchester City to try and do something special.
“It gave us that extra bit when we needed to dig deep, it really helped us."
Ramsdale, who has become the first Arsenal goalkeeper to keep 10 away sheets in a season in Premier League history, says he and his team-mates will look to push leaders Man City all the way, even though they are a point behind with a match more played.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Man City
MCI
|
38 | +61 | 89 |
| 2 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
38 | +45 | 84 |
“We’ll be going as hard as we can for three games,” Ramsdale said. “It’s not in our hands at the minute but we’ll be pushing every step of the way.
“Hopefully, if they slip up, we’ll be there to pick up the pieces. We’ll be looking on from the wings."
When asked after the win why he showed the video, Arteta said: “We had to feel it. 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."
As to how his players responded when they were showed the clips, he added: “I was looking at the video, so I didn’t see their faces.
“You don’t have to be a genius to see it. The word was pain and then the desire for revenge. I think they had that today in their bellies.”