A recent Arsenal team meeting involved the lighting of a real fire following Mikel Arteta’s bizarre press conference comments encouraging his flailing stars.
Arteta told the media on Monday there was ‘no fear, pure fire’ within his squad despite winning just one of their past four matches in all competitions prior to their 0-0 stalemate against Sporting Lisbon.
‘That’s what I want to see on the players, on the people, on myself,’ he said. ‘That’s it.
‘We are in April. We have an incredible opportunity ahead of us. Let’s confront it. Let’s go for it by really putting absolutely everything into it.’
According to The Athletic, Arteta took that quote literally and a fire was lit at the Gunners’ Colney training base during a team meeting designed to inspire his players.
The Spaniard has made a point of using strong imagery to hammer home key points to his squad. During Amazon Prime’s All or Nothing series with the Gunners, he used a lightbulb to demonstrate how the team should be connected.
That dressing room team talk was widely mocked by rival fans on social media.
How the Arsenal team responded to Arteta’s latest stunt remains unclear, with the Spaniard set to face the media this afternoon to preview Sunday’s mammoth clash with title rivals Manchester City.
Arsenal boast a nine-point lead over their rivals, who have two games in hand on the Gunners. Should Pep Guardiola’s team win this weekend and take maximum points from those two games, they will be level on points with the leaders.
But Opta’s supercomputer has found that Arsenal should not lose their cool even if they fall to defeat at the Etihad this weekend. The stats boffins say Guardiola’s side only have a 31 per cent chance of winning the title with a victory over Arsenal on Sunday.
