Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta claimed that he is "really lucky" to work with "unbelievable" midfielder Jorginho after the Italian's mesmerising display in Sunday's 3-1 win over Liverpool.
The Gunners closed the gap on the Premier League leaders to just two points with a captivating victory at the Emirates Stadium, where Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard ensured that Gabriel Magalhaes's freak own goal would not be punished.
With Gabriel Jesus sitting out the contest on account of a fresh knee problem, Kai Havertz led the Arsenal line in North London, allowing Jorginho to earn a recall alongside Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice in the Gunners' engine room.
Jorginho was given the nod over Emile Smith Rowe, who started the midweek beating of Nottingham Forest, and the former Chelsea man dominated the engine room for the full 90 minutes, making four interceptions, two tackles and completing 87% of his passes.
Jorginho was awarded the Man of the Match prize for his crucial contributions on just his fifth Premier League start of the season, and Arteta agreed with the assessment in his post-match press conference.
© Reuters
"It's a game that I had in my mind and imagining [for him to play], and how much, in my opinion, we were going to need him. It's a team that doesn't really allow you to put the fifth player in that front line the way they play," Arteta said.
"Jorgi's a really intelligent player, his biggest quality is that he makes the people around him better, he connects everybody, and he was unbelievable. I think he was man of the match. I've always said that he's an example, a role model."
The Spaniard also revealed that Jorginho has been playing through the pain of an unspecified injury problem for a number of months, as he had only played 19 minutes of Premier League football throughout December and January before running the show on Sunday.
"He's been in a lot of pain as well, because he has an issue that he's been carrying for months. He didn't want to stop, he's been playing with that," Arteta added.
"He's been training as the first one in and the last one out, and for all the kids, for everybody at the club, you want to look in the mirror at somebody, just look at him and how he behaves. You ask him to play 98 minutes at the rhythm and he's able to do that, so I'm really lucky to have players like this."
© Reuters
While Jorginho came through the contest without aggravating his long-standing problem, Arsenal were dealt a couple of fitness concerns during the match, as neither Oleksandr Zinchenko nor Saka were able to complete the 90 minutes.
Zinchenko was hauled off at half time for Jakub Kiwior with no apparent sign of an injury, while Saka stayed down after taking a whack in the second half and trudged off to be replaced by Reiss Nelson.
The Gunners boss confirmed that Zinchenko - a frequent calf victim - had sustained another problem in the same area, although he is hopeful that Jesus will not be set for another long-term absence.
"With Gabby we expect it to be something about days, and with Alex we don't know because he had some feeling in his calf again and we had to take him off," Arteta added, before also playing down concerns on Saka's fitness.
"He should be fine, I think. He got a kick, I think, on the ankle or the back of his foot, but he should be fine."
Arsenal hit the road next Sunday to meet London rivals West Ham United, but they will drop back down to third in the table if Manchester City get the better of Brentford on Monday.
No Data Analysis info
Germany
Hungary
Scotland
Switzerland
Albania
Croatia
Italy
Spain
Denmark
England
Serbia
Slovenia
Austria
France
Netherlands
Poland
Belgium
Romania
Slovakia
Ukraine
Czech Republic
Georgia
Portugal
Turkey