Brendan Rodgers saluted "game changers" Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko ahead of Leicester City's Premier League clash with leaders Arsenal.
The Gunners are two points clear at the summit with a game in hand on second-place Manchester City heading into their final 15 matches of the campaign.
Their quest for a first domestic title in 19 years has been boosted by the performances of former Man City duo Jesus and Zinchenko, who arrived at the Emirates Stadium in pre-season.
Jesus scored twice and provided two assists in Arsenal's 4-2 win over Leicester in August, though the Brazil international will miss the return fixture at the King Power Stadium on Saturday as he continues his recovery from a knee injury.
Meanwhile, the versatile Zinchenko has played 20 times under Mikel Arteta this term, and Rodgers praised the impact of both players.
"I think [Arsenal have] had a fantastic season up until now," the Foxes head coach said. "I think that you sensed right at the very beginning of the season when we played [them], they'd signed the two players that were a game changer for them in terms of mentality.
"When you've got the likes of Kieran Tierney on the bench – who's an outstanding player – because of Zinchenko playing, then it really shows you the quality of the squad that they have.
"But I think Zinchenko and Jesus coming in really will have helped, and given [them] that mindset. [William] Saliba coming in at the back and obviously the other players then improve, and so I think that they played very well on that day.
"Whenever we got close to them, we made mistakes, which gave them a cushion in the game. But you could see in that early part of the season that there was a good feeling around the place and that's continued through the season.
"I think Mikel [Arteta] has done a fantastic job with them, and, okay, still a long way to go – 15 games to go – but they've had a very, very good season so far."
Tottenham's Odobert undergoes hamstring surgery
Tottenham have confirmed that Wilson Odobert has undergone surgery for a hamstring injury.
The 19-year-old joined Spurs from Burnley in August and made five appearances in all competitions for the north London side.
He managed just 162 minutes in his three Premier League matches, creating three chances in that time, but has not featured in the competition since their 1-0 loss to Arsenal in mid-September.
His last appearance was a two-minute cameo in the Europa League group stage amid ongoing hamstring problems.
"We can confirm that Wilson Odobert underwent surgery to his right hamstring yesterday (Saturday 16th November)," Spurs said on social media.
"The 19-year-old will continue to be closely monitored by our medical team to determine when he can return to training."
Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona: Guijarro brace sets visitors up for Clasico glory
Patri Guijarro's first-half brace set Barcelona on their way to a thumping 4-0 win over rivals Real Madrid in Liga F on Saturday.
Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas were also on target as Barcelona continued their perfect start to the season, extending their lead at the top of the table.
The visitors dominated from the off, as Guijarro broke the deadlock inside the fourth minute, tapping in from Putellas' flick-on from a corner.
Cata Coll was forced into a big save to deny Alba Redondo an equaliser shortly after, but Madrid's hope was soon dented as Guijarro picked out the bottom corner with a superb long-range strike for her second.
Pina strengthened their lead six minutes before the break, clinically slotting past Misa with her low strike.
Putellas added some more gloss to the scoreline with four minutes remaining of normal time, beating the Madrid keeper with a lovely dink to bring up her 199th goal for the club.
Barcelona have won all 10 of their games, and now sit eight points clear of Madrid, who suffered their first league defeat of the campaign.
Data Debrief: Total dominance
Madrid will have felt fairly confident coming into this game after a strong start to their season, but they once again failed to find a way past their Clasico rival.
Los Blancos have lost every single game they have played against Barcelona in all competitions, with this their 15th such meeting.
Barcelona smothered their attack early on, restricting their hosts to just one shot in the first half, while they had 10.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
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