Journalist Charles Watts has revealed that Oleksandr Zinchenko got right in the face of Leandro Trossard to fire him up as he made his debut for Arsenal.

What’s the word?

On Sunday, the Gunners picked up a huge three points in their quest for Premier League glory this weekend as they beat Manchester United 3-2 at the Emirates. Despite having trailed to a Marcus Rashford goal, Mikel Arteta's men fought their way back into the game and took the lead only to then be pegged back by a Lisandro Martinez header. With the game at 2-2, Trossard was brought on for his debut and actually helped change the game as he played a ball through to Zinchenko who crossed in the box which led to Eddie Nketiah's late winner. While speaking on YouTube after the game, Watts praised the Ukrainian for his display but also his leadership qualities that were vital on the day. He explained: "I thought Zinchenko, as I said at the start, was absolutely exceptional. He was the guy before the match, in the pre-match huddle, he was leading things there, Zinchenko. "And he carried that on during the game as well. He was constantly pushing, constantly going up to his teammates. When Leandro Trossard came on for his debut with 15 minutes to go, Zinchenko was right in his face straight away, geeing him up. "And Trossard had a big impact on the goal itself. So it was just a really, really big afternoon for him [Zinchenko], I thought.”

True leader

Zinchenko only joined Arsenal in the summer – moving from Manchester City – but his experience of winning four league titles seems to already be helping shift the mentality of those around him at his new club. Indeed, speaking to Premier League Productions (via The Mirror) after the recent win the left-back explained that he has always felt the club can lift the title and while some of his teammates didn't initially believe him they do now. He said: “To be honest when I just arrived, the quality I saw – obviously I knew the Arsenal team, I knew all of them before – but still, I realised on the pitch that we have everything to achieve the big things. And I started to speak in the dressing room like, ‘guys, forget top three or whatever it is, we need to think about the title’. “Some of them were laughing, but no one is laughing now. All of us are dreaming, but like I said, there are a lot of games and United are back, City are always there obviously. Let’s see what’s going to happen, we need to move step by step.” No doubt the Gunners will be helped in their cause with the new addition of Trossard. The former Brighton man only signed for the club this week for a reported £21m but was registered in time to make his debut. Zinchenko's motivational actions seemed to inspire him too as the Belgian seemed to impress with for Arsenal star Cesc Fabregas saying the 28-year-old looked "composed and confident already".