Arsenal players 'each have individual coaches' as incredible training detail revealed
Arsenal are still lapping up their 1-0 win over arch rivals Tottenham in the Premier League.
One former Arsenal star has hailed the club’s attention to detail after their 1-0 win in the north London derby on Sunday. A tight affair at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was ultimately settled by Gabriel Magalhaes, the defender heading home Bukayo Saka’s corner in the 64th minute.
The victory came in spite of the Gunners being in the midst of a midfield crisis, with Declan Rice suspended and skipper Martin Odegaard ruled out with injury.
Summer signings Mikel Merino and Riccardo Calafiori were also missing, while Saka limped off before the end after going to ground clutching his leg.
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The manner of the winning goal has led to widespread praise for Arsenal set-piece coach Nicolas Jover. Indeed, afterwards manager Mikel Arteta said of the Frenchman: "He’s the best in his field, in any field.”
But Theo Walcott, who made 397 appearances in a 12-year stint with the club, believes it’s not just Jover who deserves the credit for the team being able to dig out results. He claimed every squad player has access to a staff member when training.
"That comes down to the work they do on the training ground,” he told the BBC. “I was lucky enough to watch them in pre-season and the amount of coaching staff who are involved in each session is incredible.
“It makes the players' lives so much easier when there is that level of detail, with coaches that are literally there for each individual player. As a squad, they are getting the same message drilled into them on a daily basis, so I am not surprised anymore when they can grind out a result like this one."
The celebrations of the visiting players afterwards spoke volumes, with squad members embracing each other and saluting their travelling fans. Arteta also cut a jubilant figure at the final whistle as his side continued their unbeaten league start.
But an even sterner test of Arsenal’s title credentials comes this Sunday when they go to the Etihad to face champions Manchester City. The two sides played out a goalless affair at the same venue last season, and Walcott argued that performance, as well as their latest derby win, signified Arteta’s ability to manage games.
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"As a team performance, probably the best comparison I can think of would be when Arsenal drew 0-0 at City last season," he said. "People wanted Arsenal to be more adventurous then, but they played with a system to get that result.
"It was exactly the same here. Even though they had some important personnel out, they are so well drilled and structured that they showed it doesn't really matter who plays, because they are all drilled the same way defensively.”