Mikel Arteta delivers Jorginho verdict after Arsenal win at Aston Villa

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta lauded Jorginho following the Gunners’ dramatic win at Aston Villa on Saturday.

They say a week is a long time in politics. In football, just a few hours will do.

At around 1:30pm, the Gunners were losing to Villa, and their Premier League title race looked in danger of collapsing.

Around 50 minutes later, Arsenal were drawing 2-2, and it still looked like a case of two points dropped.

Fast-forward to 5pm, and the Gunners are back at the top and two points clear of Manchester City.

Arsenal left it very, very late to go ahead and make sure of all points at Villa in a 4-2 away win.

Meanwhile, the Citizens could only draw 1-1 at Nottingham Forest.

Advantage Arsenal once again, and Jorginho played a significant role in making sure of this.

The January signing’s ambitious effort from range ended up finding the back of the net via Emi Martinez.

Jorginho’s overall display was outstanding as he controlled the tempo and moved the ball around well.

Even when Arsenal were struggling in the first half, the £90,000-a-week ace was one of their better players.

Arteta couldn’t sing Jorginho’s praises highly enough at his post-match press conference.

The Arsenal boss even admitted he wasn’t aware of the January signing’s ability from range.

“I certainly didn’t see that quality of his – scoring from deep! It’s great to do that,” he told the Gunners media team.

“The biggest quality he has is he makes the rest of the people look better, better than what you actually are.

“He’s made a huge impact already on the boys, on the staff and hopefully our supporters can see that as well and give him the support he needs.

“I thought he was tremendous today.”

Don’t write off signings early

Credit to Jorginho for stepping up wonderfully in Thomas Partey’s absence.

And credit to Arteta and Edu for making the signing in the first place.

Jorginho’s arrival at the Emirates was met with a mixed reaction by the Arsenal fanbase.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s not to write off signings before they’ve kicked a ball for the Gunners.

We’ve seen it with Aaron Ramsdale and we’re seeing it again with Jorginho.

Partey’s absence hasn’t been as disastrous as it might’ve been, and that late Jorginho effort could have a huge say in where the title goes this season.