Mikel Arteta said his Arsenal side were ready for a midweek Champions League flight delay because he had deliberately disrupted their pre‑season training and travel plans.
The Premier League champions were held up by air traffic control issues as they flew to Italy for the Napoli match on Wednesday, arriving three hours behind schedule. Arteta told reporters at a news conference that the team’s preparation had already accounted for such disruptions.
"I love those challenges, I try to create them in pre‑season," Arteta said. "When they happen, we have already experienced them and we are ready. Get to the stadium very late, change the routine so the players have to do something else. When it happens, and it can – the flight can be cancelled, or the train is delayed, there is so much traffic, I don’t want the players and staff panicking. When that happens, adapt to it. We have two or three hours on the plane – can we use it? Play together, spend some time together, sleep. But don’t complain or use it as an excuse because it’s not helpful at all."
Arteta added that his methods also involve delaying meals or transport, taking different routes to the training ground and making the dressing room hotter and more uncomfortable to reduce the amount of stress and surprise on match day. He has used a range of unusual tactics before, from bringing a light bulb into the dressing room to hiring professional pickpockets to test players’ alertness, and even introducing a dog named Win to boost morale.
Arsenal will face Sunderland in the Premier League at 20:00 BST on Saturday, with the team’s resilience to logistical hiccups now a key part of their game plan.
