Aaron Ramsdale has revealed that Mikel Arteta showed the Arsenal squad dressing room footage from their heart-breaking loss to Newcastle last season.
On the Gunners’ return to St. James’ Park this season they won 2-0 thanks to Martin Odegaard’s long range strike and a Fabian Schar own goal, a result that helps keep their Premier League title hopes alive.
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Last season, in the same fixture, the score was reversed in the penultimate game of the season as Arsenal lost 2-0 to Newcastle, which allowed rivals Tottenham to leapfrog them into the top four.
That result was significant in denying the Gunners Champions League football, and the moment was captured on their edition of the Amazon All or Nothing documentary series.
Arteta was filmed in the away dressing room telling his players ‘shut your mouth’ and saying ‘they were 10,000 times better than us in everything’.
The players looked at the ground with their heads bowed in disappointment, and footage of it was shown to them this time round.
Ramsdale explained: “There is immense pride and a bit of relief in that dressing room after the win today.
“The manager showed us a clip of the documentary last year, showed us all of our faces.
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“We had that burning desire when we left the hotel that it was not going to be the same today.”
Arsenal captain Odegaard also echoed those thoughts, and admitted how difficult last term’s defeat was.
“We showed something special here today,” he said. “To come here and win is not easy.
“We had to be very smart and to be ugly at times. It is a big step for a young team like ours to come here and do the things we did. It shows we have come a long way.
“Last year here was one of the toughest days of my career, to be honest. After dropping points against Man City, to win against Chelsea and then come here and win shows the mentality.
“We have to keep going and digging in and fight until the end. It is football, anything can happen and we need to be ready.”
