Aaron looks like a worthy heir to characters like Adams & Co

MIKEL ARTETA has got Arsenal going again.

After years in the wilderness – and 12 months without any European football – the Gunners are favourites to land that coveted fourth spot in the Premier League. How?

Well, they’ve found a character in the strangest place. A leader, a cult hero – just someone who gets what the club is about.

Yes, take a bow Aaron Ramsdale. It’s a tough ask, to carve out a niche for yourself when you spend around one minute of every game in meaningful action.

When it’s boiled down, keepers don’t actually do much.

They catch the ball (one or two seconds). Or save a shot (one second). Or waste time (as much as they can get away with).

So their chances to influence the game are limited. But when they do... wow.

And the former Bournemouth and Sheffield United shot stopper has emerged as the leader of a pack that was desperate for one.

First off, he’s decent. But if you are going to establish yourself as a fans’ favourite then you need to do a bit more.

Ramsdale (above) plays up to the crowd. He engages in a bit of banter with opposition fans, obviously only too happy to bait him.

But, more importantly, it looks like he really cares about winning football matches and that infectious behaviour is now starting to run through the Arsenal squad.

Ramsdale missed the victory at Aston Villa the other week, but the players celebrated like it meant something.

There was some chatter on social media afterwards along the lines of, ‘Who do they think they are? It was like they’ve won a cup.’ Maybe. But all the Arsenal fans saw was the sight of joyous players leaping about Villa Park like they were themselves in the Doug Ellis Stand at the final whistle.

OK, it wasn’t the same as 89 – the film I watched again the other day about Arsenal’s incredible last-day triumph at Anfield to secure the League Championship where the celebrations were thoroughly deserved.

But when your club has been crying out for passion, it’s a start.

It is an ingredient that has been sadly lacking since Arsene Wenger’s reign. In the Frenchman’s early days, there were the remnants of that title-winning side.

Leaders? You couldn’t move in that dressing room without bumping into one.

Tony Adams, Steve Bould, Alan Smith, David O’leary. Then the likes of Patrick Vieira and Ian Wright stepped in.

Finally, they had Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie. But since then genuine characters have been few and far between – and it matters because every successful club needs one.

Arsenal have been lacking in that department – until Ramsdale – and, to a lesser extent Ben White, have come forward.

And a few of us have first-hand experience of the glint in the 23-year-old’s eye.

Just after the European Championship, we were invited to St George’s Park to interview Kalvin Phillips who was on England duty.

Ramsdale wasn’t even due to play, yet he put a smile on our faces by driving an electric cart around the hall.

He’d roar up, whack on the brakes, then scoot off.

It wasn’t dangerous or annoying. He was just enjoying himself.

He just threw off the vibe that he was having a great time.

That he was thoroughly at home in his surroundings and that he deserved to be there.

Weaker characters draw from that. An expectant home crowd feeds off it. And, just at the moment, Arteta – (left) is thriving simply because of it.