Jorginho summed up his feelings after his strike forced a late goal to give Arsenal all three points at Aston Villa by simply saying: "That's [the] Premier League".

The Italy international hit a superb shot in the 93rd minute that struck the woodwork, before hitting Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez on the back of the head and rolling into the net to put Arsenal 3-2 up on Saturday.

Gabriel Martinelli sealed a 4-2 win with a breakaway goal in the closing seconds as Arsenal returned to the top of the Premier League table ahead of Manchester City's trip to Nottingham Forest.

"That's [the] Premier League," Jorginho told BT Sport. "That's why it's the best league in the world. It's just beautiful."

Mikel Arteta's side were without a win in three top-flight games and fell 1-0 down early on at Villa Park to an Ollie Watkins goal, with Bukayo Saka's equaliser followed by Philippe Coutinho restoring the hosts' lead before the break.

Oleksandr Zinchenko levelled things again just after the hour, before Jorginho's shot forced a dramatic Martinez own goal to delight the visitors, with Martinelli adding an easy fourth on the counter after Villa's goalkeeper had come up for a corner.

"It was very important," Jorginho added. "After the last results we had and the start [today] it was not easy, we were not producing our game, and then we came to half-time, had a talk and we went back to doing the basics we need to do and we could change the game."

Zinchenko hailed the "amazing group" at Arsenal and stated his belief that they can "achieve everything" as they compete with his former club City in the title race.

"I think from this game I would like to say two things," he said. "First, we took an unbelievable lesson for all of us, we just need to believe until the very end and we can achieve everything.

"Like I said many times in the past already, this group is [full of] such amazing people, can achieve everything they want if we want to continue in this way, keep fighting, keep believing.

"Also, this reaction of us in the second half is perfect, I think that's the right way to go for the future games."

Chelsea midfielder Jorginho hailed new signing Kalidou Koulibaly as a "real leader" as he expressed his delight at being reunited with his former Napoli team-mate at Stamford Bridge.

The Premier League club signed Koulibaly from the Partenopei last week for a reported fee of £33.8million (€40m), with the Senegal captain penning a four-year contract.

Koulibaly made 236 Serie A appearances during a distinguished eight-year spell with Napoli, helping them to three second-placed finishes and one Coppa Italia triumph. 

Jorginho starred alongside Koulibaly during the defender's first four seasons in Italy, and the pair are now set to link-up in England.

The Italy international has revealed he discussed such a reunion with Koulibaly on several occasions after making his own move to west London in 2018, as he lauded the defender for his leadership abilities.

"We spoke a lot about it," Jorginho told the club's website. "Even before I came here Chelsea were interested in him, and finally now it's happening so it's really good.

"I am so, so happy he's here. As a player, he's a brilliant defender – fast, strong and he has so much quality on the ball with both feet. He's also a real leader.

"We've stayed in contact since I left Napoli.

"He speaks better English already than I do so that will be good for him to help settle in. It's going to be really easy for him because of the person he is. 

"Of course, we will help him to make it maybe a bit easier for him to get involved with team-mates and everything, but even if he didn't know us it would be easy for him because he's such a good guy."

Thomas Tuchel is unsure whether Romelu Lukaku will return for Chelsea's Champions League showdown with Juventus, while Kai Havertz could miss out entirely.

Record signing Lukaku has been out for a month due to an ankle injury, but is closing in on a comeback.

The Belgium striker was able to resume training last week, but Blues manager Tuchel will not rush him back into the side at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

While Lukaku's involvement appears undecided, Havertz seems unlikely to feature after suffering a hamstring injury against Leicester City.

Jorginho will be available after coming off with cramp in the win over the Foxes as the second-placed holders look for a win that would put them level on 12 points with the Group H leaders.

Asked about the possibility of Lukaku returning, Tuchel said: "Not sure yet. He seemed okay in training yesterday [Sunday], we will see about the reaction.

"He has an appointment with the doctors and physios. Maybe we can bring 20 players to the squad. The last minutes would be the absolute maximum.

"Jorginho is absolutely okay. Kai had a hamstring problem so we took him off and we have some doubts with him."

Chelsea are unbeaten in nine matches – winning seven and edging a penalty shootout – since losing 1-0 to the Bianconeri in September.

It has been reported that owner Roman Abramovich could be in attendance for the battle between the top two, but Tuchel says that will not give his side extra motivation to put on a show.

The German said: "Our show is the basics. We give our very best if the owner is here or if he is not here. He will watch us closely anyway if he isn't here.

"We put a show on a daily basis and that is with hard work to make him happy and all our supporters who are in the stadium tomorrow. We need everyone full on and ourselves to be at the top level."

The London club have only won one of their past 10 Champions League encounters with Italian sides.

Tuchel says Chelsea will not shoot themselves in the foot by taking a gung-ho approach to trying to qualify as group winners.

"We will not risk our qualification and go all in if the situation is like this, but we will try everything to win the game and the group and to do this, we have to win the game," said the former Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund boss.

Could Jurgen Klopp and Robert Lewandowski be set to work together again?

The pair enjoyed a successful partnership at Borussia Dortmund.

Now, Klopp is reportedly trying to lure the Bayern Munich forward to Liverpool.

 

TOP STORY – KLOPP WANTS LEWANDOWSKI REUNION

Liverpool are targeting Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski, according to Fichajes.

Lewandowski worked with Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund before joining Bundesliga rivals Bayern in 2014.

There has been talk Lewandowski could be ready for a new challenge amid links to Real Madrid and Manchester City, though Klopp is reportedly determined to reunite with the Poland international.

 

ROUND-UP

- Bild claims Dortmund have identified Chelsea forward Timo Werner as a possible option to replace Erling Haaland. Club are queueing up to sign Haaland, with City, Manchester United, Bayern, Liverpool, Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain all reportedly interested. Should Haaland leave Dortmund, the Bundesliga outfit reportedly see former RB Leipzig star Werner as a potential successor.

- Fabrizio Romano says Inter forward Lautaro Martinez is nearing a contract extension at San Siro. He has reportedly turned down offers from Tottenham and Atletico Madrid.

Bayern, Inter, Real Madrid and Tottenham are interested in Borussia Monchengladbach defender Matthias Ginter, reports Calciomercato.

Chelsea are looking to sign Jorginho, N'Golo Kante, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen to new contracts, according to Romano.

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