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Arsenal custodian Aaron Ramsdale has opened on his team's impressive start to the 2022-23 Premier League season.
The Gunners are atop the Premier League standings with 21 points from eight games, with the 3-1 loss to Manchester United being the only aberration. Mikel Arteta's team have looked solid on all fronts and have had their best start to a top-flight campaign in nearly two decades.
Their recent showing ended in a 3-1 victory over north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur. That was in stark contract to the result in May, when Spurs handed them a 3-0 humiliation to douse their UEFA Champions League hopes.
The loss was a crushing blow to Arsenal's Champions League ambitions. Another loss to Newcastle allowed their city rivals to usurup them in fourth place as the Gunners dropped down to the UEFA Europa League instead.
Ramsdale has said that last season's implosion towards the end of the campaign has been the inspiration behind the Gunners' strong run this season. He said (via Daily Mail):
"The experiences at the end last season are adding to our team spirit and mentality. It's not just the lads who have come in who have brought this winning mentality. We all have this fire burning inside because of what happened at the end of last season."
He added:
"We spoke about it before the game, to play the game and not the occasion, and that's what we did. From the start of the season, we played really well in games and we're winning, that helps."
On the team's solid attitude, he added:
"It is a never-say-die attitude, the way I would word it is an "Eff it mentality", "who cares we have conceded? We have got 10 minutes, 70 minutes, we will play our way. We never run out of time. That is the big thing for us and the manager, we don't stop working."
Arsenal return to action on Thursday (October 6) in the UEFA Europa League against Bodo/Glimt.
Are Arsenal genuine title contenders?
It's so far so good for Arsenal, who're sitting ahead of champions Manchester City and looking like title contenders for the first time in a while.
However, their true potential will be seen this month when they play eight more games over the next four weeks, as the going is set to get really tough.
Should they maintain their top-flight lead, it would be a real testament of the London outfit's prowess and growth and would make them bonafide title contenders.
