Mikel Arteta is doing everything possible to keep the Gunners’ morale high and for the team to continue to perform just as well in the final stretch of the Premier League.
With Manchester City hot on their heels, Arsenal can’t make any mistakes, and Arteta is pulling out some flashy techniques to keep his boys in shape.
In the recent away match against Fulham, the Spaniard brought a replica of the Emirates clock to the Craven Cottage locker room so that the players would feel at home.
Arteta explained his actions: “It was something I related to a few days before on where we were as a team and club and what we have to stand for,” the Gunners Boss told ESPN.
“It was something private in the dressing room just before the game and something that’s in the history of our club.
“We have to be really conscious of that, and when we have that history, and we use it in the right way, that’s a really powerful thing to have.
“The reality is that every game is so important, the margins are so small, and we are now going to have to do something incredible until the end of the season to earn the right to be there.”
Arteta’s actions have drawn attention and have been criticized by some. Such is the case of Graeme Souness, who in his Daily Mail column, described Chief Gunner’s actions as nonsense.“I read the story about Arsenal taking their home comforts into opposition dressing rooms and had to reread it to make sure it wasn’t a joke.
“Really? Is this what the modern game has become?
“So Arsenal players arrive at Fulham to find their own clock is on the wall along with their own pictures and stickers? “It’s extremely strange, and only a winning manager can get away with that.
“The Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is doing a fine job, but he has form for such nonsense.”