Oleksandr Zinchenko insists there would be “no point” continuing the season if he did not retain belief that Arsenal can win the Premier League title.
The Gunners ended a four-match winless run with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Chelsea on Tuesday night to breathe fresh life into their title bid.
Captain Martin Odegaard struck twice before Gabriel Jesus wrapped up the points in the first half, with a first league goal for Noni Madueke providing scant consolation for the Blues.
Despite the win, Manchester City remain firm favourites to claim a fifth crown in six years.
Zinchenko won four league titles at City before joining Arsenal last summer and on arriving at the Emirates Stadium declared Mikel Arteta’s side should be challenging for the trophy rather than aiming for Champions League qualification.
Now the Ukraine full-back maintains that stance heading into the final few weeks of the campaign.
“If you don’t believe, there is no point playing,” he said.
“So of course I do. When I had just arrived I said the quality everyone has here is incredible, the energy as well.
“I said everything is possible in this life if we’re going to work so hard. And that’s what we’re trying to do.
“It was an important three points for us obviously. In terms of our reaction, we bounced back quite good after the last couple of games where we dropped a lot of points.
“The win is so important for us to be back in a routine, for the mood in the dressing room and in terms also for our league position. So, let’s keep going.
“Unfortunately it is not in our hands, but you never know what can happen in this league. From us, we need to be focused on our performances. That’s it.
“We need to keep fighting, because we worked so hard during this season.”
Zinchenko was caught out for Chelsea’s goal on Tuesday night, with Arsenal’s defence once again unable to shut out the opposition.
Arteta’s side have kept just one clean sheet in their last nine league outings and Zinchenko admits that is not good enough.
“The manager has already said to us a couple of things we’ve done badly, what we’ve done good,” he added.
“Of course it’s not acceptable at this level to concede so many goals and we need to improve on that.
“But we’re human beings, we’re still learning and we’re such a young team as well, so I hope for the future we’re going to do much better.”
Defeat for Chelsea means they have now lost all six games under interim boss Frank Lampard and languish in the bottom-half of the table.
“We’re hurt and angry, every negative emotion you could think of,” left-back Ben Chilwell told the club’s official website.
“It was very poor. We knew that if we came here and played like that we would have to expect to concede three goals.
“We’re probably quite a nice team to play against, which has been the story of the whole season to be honest.
“It seems to be every team that plays against us has a good game. That’s not a coincidence. A lot of the performances recently have been below the standard we set. The first half was another example of that. We have to look at ourselves.”
Meanwhile, Arsenal have condemned the shining of a laser into the face of Chelsea forward Mykhailo Mudryk as a fan was arrested over the incident.
Television cameras picked up a light being beamed in the direction of the Ukraine international, who had been jeered after coming on as a second-half substitute for the visitors.
Mudryk had been close to joining the Gunners in January before instead signing for their London rivals and was targeted with the laser during game.
An Arsenal statement on Wednesday morning read: “An arrest has been made following the use of a laser during last night’s match.
“This behaviour is dangerous and totally unacceptable, and we will fully support the police with their enquiries. We will obviously take the strongest possible action.”
The PA news agency understands the Football Association will be investigating the matter and that the Metropolitan Police made a further three arrests at the game for ticket touting.
Haaland pinpoints collective Man City quality after four-goal blitz of Wolves
Erling Haaland blasted four goals past Wolves in a one-man Premier League show but the Manchester City forward says it would not be possible without manager Pep Guardiola or his team-mates.
The City talisman took his top-flight tally to 25 for this season, moving five clear of his nearest challenger in the Premier League Golden Boot race, after Saturday's 5-1 thrashing of Wolves.
Haaland was twice on target from the penalty spot as part of his first-half hat-trick, adding another after the interval with an arrowed strike into the top-left corner.
It was the first time the Norway star has managed four goals in one Premier League game, with his quartet of strikes coming in 54 minutes. Only Gabriel Jesus has scored as many earlier in one match, doing so in 53 minutes against Watford in April 2022.
Haaland also became the third player to score multiple first-half hat-tricks in Premier League history (also against Nottingham Forest last season), along with Andrew Cole and Michael Owen (two each).
Yet the superstar attacker says his exploits would not be possible without his City colleagues or boss Guardiola.
"I've got a not-too-bad manager who pushes me and look at the players around me," Haaland told Sky Sports when asked about his motivations.
"Without them, it would not be possible. Look ahead, look to next one – four finals left for the season. We're going to go for it and focus on Fulham."
It was Haaland's sixth Premier League hat-trick for City, with only seven players netting more in the competition’s history. All six of those trebles have been at the Etihad, only three have more at a single venue.
Haaland's second strike came from a towering header following Rodri's right-wing centre, which he suggested would delight his father Alfie.
"That's a beautiful goal," the Norwegian said of his headed finish. "My father is going to be happy with that one.
"A nice celebration, I enjoyed that one. I'm scoring more headers, I try to develop and keep going."
City are within a point of Premier League leaders Arsenal and Guardiola's side still have a game in hand against Tottenham on May 14.
Despite the thrashing of Wolves, Haaland insists Guardiola remains intent on winning the remaining games, rather than calculating the probabilities needed on goal difference.
"First of all it's about winning the games but, of course, you want to have the best possible goal difference," he added. "Let's not think about that. Think about Fulham."
Burnley boss Kompany demands never-say-die attitude as Premier League relegation looms
Vincent Kompany refused to admit defeat as Burnley slipped closer to Premier League relegation after a 4-1 thrashing by Newcastle United at Turf Moor.
The Clarets' heavy defeat, coupled with Nottingham Forest's 3-1 win over Sheffield United on Saturday, leaves Burnley five points adrift of safety with just two games remaining.
Burnley's loss was their 22nd in the Premier League this season (W5 D9), only in 2009-10 (24) and 1975-76 (23) have the Clarets lost more times in a Football League campaign.
Yet Kompany attempted to find the positives in the performance, suggesting there is still a chance his side take it to the final day against fellow relegation-battlers Forest.
"In the end I am not beaten or defeated by it personally in terms of my attitude," said Kompany.
"They are a good side with phenomenal attacking players, midfielders comfortable on the ball and aggressive in other situations.
"We never let this game die, the result and score was done but we kept going, kept threatening and that is all I can ask my players to do.
"For us, we have to look at that [next] Tottenham game as the final game of the season. If the opposition teams lose and we win, what are you going to write then? That's all it is.
"If they lose and we win, all of a sudden we have a different discussion before the next game. If we get a bonus with a game against Forest, then that's our final, that's how we have to look at it."
Callum Wilson, Sean Longstaff, Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak – the latter who saw a second-half penalty saved, too – were all on target in a home humbling for Burnley.
Dara O'Shea's late consolation goal mattered for little as this disappointing result was made more painful by Forest winning at Bramall Lane.
Nuno Espirito Santo's 17th-placed side fell behind to Ben Brereton Diaz's penalty, only for Callum Hudson Odoi's brace and a second-half finish from Ryan Yates to save the day.
Blades manager Chris Wilder was left aggrieved, though, as his already-relegated United wanted a free-kick for a foul on Brereton Diaz in the build-up to Yates' goal that made it 2-1.
"I will let you put two and two together. I think it is a pretty easy, comfortable decision for everybody to make because of the situation," Wilder said, seemingly referencing Forest's recent problems with refereeing.
"I will let you decide on that situation. I'm not going to get dragged into that debate, a foul is a foul, whether it is a push in any part of the pitch.
“For me it is a foul, people tell me the game has moved on, you could say Ben needs to be stronger, but there is no need for him to go down like that, you can see he has two hands in his back.
"They score from that opportunity, we go 2-1 down."
Forest's top-flight safety could be secure before they face Chelsea next Saturday, with Burnley needing victory away against Tottenham to take their survival hopes to the final day.
Haaland 'back to business' as Guardiola lauds four-goal Man City star in Wolves win
Pep Guardiola says Erling Haaland is "back to business" after his four-goal demolition of Wolves that kept Manchester City in touch of Premier League leaders Arsenal.
The Gunner dispatched Bournemouth 3-0 earlier on Saturday but Haaland's first-half hat-trick – including two penalties – started a roaring response from City at Etihad Stadium.
Haaland added his fourth after the interval before Julian Alvarez wrapped up the scoring, with Hwang Hee-Chan's second-half strike a mere consolation in a 5-1 hammering of Wolves.
Victory extended Man City's unbeaten run in the Premier League to 20 games (W16 D4), while they have won each of the last six in a row, netting 4+ goals on five occasions in that run.
Moving just a point with Arsenal and still boasting a game in hand, Guardiola was relieved to see a firing return to form for Haaland, whose April was hampered by injury issues.
"It looks comfortable but it was not," the City manager told Sky Sports. "In the end we created more chances but in the transition we were not precise in the last pass.
"But Erling is back to business. Penalties are a guarantee but the second and fourth [goals] were unbelievable.
"The 20 minutes he [Haaland] played against Nottingham Forest was really good and today as well. We won, but it was so long an injury.
"It is welcome he arrived in the right moment, but we arrive together because Erling and Kevin [De Bruyne] have been out."
Having scored a hat-trick in this exact fixture last season, Haaland became just the third player to score a home treble against the same opponent in consecutive Premier League campaigns.
The Norway talisman also became the third player to score multiple first-half hat-tricks in Premier League history (also against Forest last season), along with Andrew Cole and Michael Owen (two each).
Yet the City forward appeared somewhat annoyed with his late substitution for Alvarez.
"He's a little bit frustrated, but I understand," Guardiola added. "He was frustrated with the referee. With the long balls sometimes they push him and he is pulled. Yes, it is like that."
City will play their game in hand against Tottenham on May 14, with that their chance to move clear of Mikel Arteta's side.
Guardiola insists his team must win all their remaining fixtures to lift the top-flight trophy once more.
"Goal difference is not possible, we cannot draw," he added. "The way Arsenal have been playing has been so good and consistent.
"It's three games, hopefully we win the first and the second and arrive to the third with our destiny in our own hands."
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