Only 11 months have passed since Oleksandr Zinchenko, a force of nature in those final weeks of Manchester City’s campaign, cut back for Rodri to equalise against Aston Villa and haul them to within one goal of the title. The player who retrieved the ball from Robin Olsen’s net and ferried it back towards halfway was Gabriel Jesus, not a scorer that day but far from redundant during the run-in. Jesus would have an indirect role in Ilkay Gündogan’s winner, making a run in behind that forced Tyrone Mings into a loose touch.
These moments will live in City’s folklore for decades. They are snapshots, too, of exactly why Mikel Arteta was so intent upon bringing Zinchenko and Jesus to Arsenal at £75m for the two.
Both players were winners, B-listers by City standards but not exactly reserves. They knew, as well as anyone, how to shift the dial; they had operated in a team that, in those moments when adversity or self‑doubt crept in, almost unfailingly found the wherewithal to achieve greatness. On Wednesday, Arteta must hope they brought plenty of it with them. Zinchenko and Jesus can count themselves among the summer newcomers to Arsenal who propelled them from also-rans to potential league winners.
William Saliba, another crucial addition, will miss their showdown against the champions with a back injury and may struggle to play again this season. It rests on the former City pair, so well schooled in succeeding at the Etihad Stadium, to put those lessons to good use once again.
After Theo Walcott had given Southampton a stunning 2-0 lead at the Emirates Stadium on Friday night it was Zinchenko – rather than the captain, Martin Ødegaard – who gathered a shellshocked group into a huddle and called the odds. It is not an exaggeration to say the Ukrainian has become the key voice in the dressing room: the story that he was greeted by laughter in pre‑season when he demanded a title push of his new teammates is well told, but his belief was infectious. Zinchenko understood what it took and has carried everyone else along with him.
Jesus is less of a rhetorician but his diligence, approachability and professionalism have made a similar impact at Arsenal’s training ground. Early in the season his extraordinary spark and work rate from the front showed what the side would be capable of when cranking its attacking volume up a notch. The improvement, which could be directly linked to Jesus’s example, survived much of his winter absence through injury and Arsenal’s frontline can rarely be accused of looking flat.
Now, though, Arsenal find themselves in a dip even if it says plenty for the ludicrously high standards required to challenge City that three successive draws may be regarded as terminal. Their proven winners have not been immune to the kind of lapse that has taken matters out of their hands.
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Zinchenko was visibly disappointed after Trent Alexander‑Arnold nutmegged him in the buildup to Roberto Firmino’s equaliser at Liverpool; Jesus had scored four in three before the Southampton game but his general performance level has not hit the season’s earlier highs. At West Ham he spent more time on the floor than leading from the front as Arsenal struggled to recapture their intensity; converting a sitter at 3-1 down against Saints would have given them far more time to attempt the three-goal turnaround they almost completed.
“If we want to be champions we will have to go there and win the game, that is all,” Jesus said of a match which justifies weeks of hype. To stretch their lead Arsenal must find a way to subdue Erling Haaland and the greatly improved Jack Grealish, whose contributions have shown why Jesus stood little chance of long‑term favour under Pep Guardiola whether through the middle or out wide. They must mitigate Saliba’s absence more deftly than they have done since he pulled up against Sporting Lisbon last month; their midfield must compete on terms with City’s and in attack they will simply have to be more clinical.
It is easier said than done. But Zinchenko and Jesus have achieved it all before and now comes the chance, ahead of schedule or not, to validate Arteta’s reasons for bringing them in. They were signed to set the tone on nights such as this, arriving as emissaries from a world that had become alien to Arsenal; one in which victories tick themselves off and trophies roll along as surely as night follows day. Winning on Wednesday would not turn Arsenal into City but it would be the apotheosis of the process both players have been asked to help implement.
“We have another final to play,” Jesus said. He and Zinchenko have mastered enough of them; doing so again, at a venue where they know exactly how to call the tune, could mean the scenes of last May are repeated in north London after all.