Hotter dressing rooms, late arrivals and less massage beds: Arteta on the methods he has used to prepare his Arsenal players for disruption

Mikel Arteta has revealed he deliberately disrupted Arsenal’s pre-season preparations to teach his players how to cope when things go wrong.

The Premier League champions arrived in Naples around three hours later than planned for their Champions League clash with Napoli following air traffic control problems.

But Arteta says his squad had already been prepared for such scenarios, having intentionally changed travel routes and meal times during pre-season.

“I love those challenges. I try to create them in pre-season,” Arteta said. “Get to the stadium very late, change the routine so the players have to do something else.

“When it happens, adapt to it. But don’t complain or use it as an excuse because it’s not helpful at all.”

Arteta even revealed Arsenal had made dressing rooms hotter and reduced the number of massage beds available to players to create further difficulties.

“We’ve done many things,” he added. “Make the dressing room hotter, more difficult, more challenging, less [massage] beds.

“We’re going to have to adapt to different contexts. When there’s no element of surprise or stress on a matchday, I think it’s important.”