Apparently, to lead the Premier League title race, your players not only need a ball at their feet, but also a pen in their hands.
Arsenal’s training session in London Colney on Monday turned heads due a string of untraditional drills—or rather, relay races—that manager Mikel Arteta put his players through.
The Gunners were placed in groups of four, required to huddle up and wrap their arms around each other in order to balance a soccer ball between their bowed foreheads. Once the ball was steadied between them, they raced down the field together.
Next, the Gunners—still in their huddled groups—used their index fingers to each balance one side of a pen up in the air, not allowed to let it drop. At their feet was a ball they passed between them, while racing down the field towards a trash can they ultimately had to flick the ball into.
Although likely implemented to encourage camaraderie, focus and multi-tasking, Arteta chose to remain evasive about his creative and spirited exercises when talking with reporters after training.
“I think the training session has to have different elements,” he said. “And it has to be related to the messages that we send, the compromises and commitments that we’ve done between us. I try to have all those messages and commitments as much as possible in as many situations as possible, and training was one of them.”
“That stays in the dressing room,” Arteta added with a smirk, when pressed about the use of pens specifically.
What’s Next for Arteta, Arsenal?
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Arsenal face first-time Champions League quarterfinalists Sporting CP. | Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty Images
After a heartbreaking exit from the FA Cup on Saturday—losing 2–1 to Southampton, Arsenal look to quickly pick themselves back up.
The Gunners travel to Sporting CP on Tuesday for the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal, before welcoming the Portuguese side to Emirates Stadium for the second leg on April 15. Arsenal striker Viktor Gyökeres, who joined the Gunners last summer for $74 million after scoring 97 times across 102 appearances for Sporting CP, will have a reunion with his old squad—and potentially receive some boos from the crowd at Estádio José Alvalade.
“He’s very excited,” Arteta said Monday. “He’s full of gratitude for his time here, the way he talks about the club, the players, the staff and everybody around the club. The experience that he had and how important that part of his journey [was].
“And now he’s ours heading into the quarterfinals of the Champions League. He’s never played at this level of the competition.”
Arsenal also host Bournemouth in league play this Saturday, looking to extend their current nine-point lead over Manchester City with the seven games remaining in the title race.
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