As a Premier League winner with both Arsenal and Manchester City, but also with experience of the title narrowly evading his grasp, Kolo Toure knows these feelings all too well.
“It’s money time now,” he says, ahead of City’s showdown with Arsenal on Wednesday night. “Man City have the momentum. They’re winning every game and now there’s doubt in the Arsenal players’ heads.
“When you are so close to winning a title you haven’t won before and you don’t have that experience, it’s tough, and very stressful. You need that little bit of luck.”
You also need leaders, and Toure thanks Thierry Henry for carrying them through their Invincibles campaign. “At half-time he would come in kicking things, shouting, everyone would just be like ‘Wow!’, you’re a bit scared really, but we could see the desire he had to win games.”
Toure sees that same passion in Granit Xhaka and Bukayo Saka among Arsenal’s current crop, and of the latter he believes the Gunners not only have a player who would have made that revered 2003-04 team, but one that can make the difference in this current title race.
“He is still young but you can see that desire and that passion for the club. He is the one who can make a big difference in those moments,” Toure says.
“He’s been carrying that team very well this season. In the games coming, he has to show that. It’s not about age. It’s about talent and he has unbelievable talent. He loves that club and I’m sure this is a player who can really push the team up.
“This is when Michael Jordan makes his money because he’s the one who will make the difference. They give him the ball when the pressure is on. This Arsenal team has Saka and I believe this boy has a special talent.
“This moment is special because it is the first time he is facing all this. But there is always a first time for everybody. If that time is now, Arsenal can benefit. Definitely.”
City may have won this reverse fixture 3-1 in February, but Toure points out Arsenal made them “suffer” when largely outplaying Pep Guardiola’s side at the Emirates, only for class to tell out in the final 20 minutes.
In their bid to cause an upset at City, however, there are now several factors going against Arsenal; momentum, William Saliba’s absence, and the inevitable Erling Haaland – who is two away from matching Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer’s single-season record of 34 Premier League goals, both in 42-match campaigns, and will put Rob Holding and Gabriel Magalhaes to the test.
“Of course, Saliba has been unbelievable with Gabriel at the back,” says Toure. “He’s done a fantastic job. Both of them have a great link and I’m sure they speak French on the pitch. But now it’s very difficult, they need to find a connection very quickly.
“For them, Haaland is a very quick player and very strong, so you cannot get too tight to him, because if you get too tight too early, he can roll you. You have to make sure you have at least one metre between you. When the ball is at his feet, you can go tighter because you have to make sure he does not set that two-step away from you. If they do that, they could be fine.
“But it’s difficult. He is unbelievable. He has everything – speed, power, he is incredibly intelligent and always makes double-movements bringing everybody else into space.”
Toure chuckles when asked about Haaland nipping defenders in the back, getting in their heads, trying to get the psychological, and physical, advantage, and that’s mainly because the ex-Arsenal and City centre-back was reliving his first red card in Premier League football.
“Alan Shearer was great at that,” he says. “My first red card in the Premier League was [because of] Alan. Just before the ball comes, he gives you an elbow. I remember I went mad there, and I got the red card because I started fighting him. Strikers are very clever, they always find things to disturb you, get under your skin.
“But I am a very emotional man. Arsene [Wenger] let me play. He knew I was very young at the time, very enthusiastic. But that’s what the team needed at that moment. We had experienced players, but we needed somebody to give enthusiasm, who would run everywhere. That’s why he left me.”
Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko return to City on Wednesday with a point to prove. It will be tough, as the underdogs, but both have already elevated Arsenal’s standing from top-four hopefuls to title challengers.
“Those two will want to show City how big a mistake they made to let them leave,” adds Toure. “Jesus, he’s looking at Haaland thinking, ‘They took this guy to play my position, okay he’s fantastic but I will show them that I was really good as well and that they made a mistake’.
“Zinchenko the same. ‘You didn’t rate me highly? I was a squad player? I want to show you I have quality’. That’s what they’ll want to do, give everything. You can see from the start of this season, Zinchenko is the one who always brings the team together because he really wants to hurt City.”
What chances, then, of Jesus scoring and celebrating a la Emmanuel Adebayor in 2009, a match Toure started and, as an ex-Arsenal player himself playing for City, therefore got to witness first-hand that full-pitch sprint towards the travelling Gooners.
“I don’t think he’ll do that!” admits Toure. “There’s only one Adebayor.
“When you play against your old club, you really want to show them how much they miss you.
“Adebayor was young and passionate and was taking his hunger out really. It wasn’t doing him any favours, it was just creating more drama.”
It’s Game On for the title. Watch Man City v Arsenal, the biggest game of the season, exclusively live on BT Sport 1 on Wednesday 26th April from 7pm. BT Sport will broadcast all Premier League midweek fixtures from Tuesday 25th to Thursday 27th April. Watch 30 days of BT Sport, contract-free, for £29.99 a month with the BT Sport Monthly Pass. For more info, visit: bt.com/sport/monthly-pass
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