Oleksandr Zinchenko has revealed that Mikel Arteta has told injured players to travel with the squad and even go into the dressing room before matches, just to conceal injury absences.
Writing in his book Believe, Oleksandr Zinchenko has shared details of some of the tactics Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta uses to confuse opposition managers ahead of games.
Zinchenko revealed that Arteta “likes to play games with the opposition”, adding that he’s “seen him tell injured players to come on the team bus and walk into the dressing room with their wash bag, to put the other manager off the scent”.
Arteta has never particularly hidden the fact that he likes to play mind games with opposition managers, admitting as much when asked about his injury updates in press conferences.
“I don’t want to make it easy for anyone,” Arteta said. “The opponent has to make sure they do their homework — like I have to.
“When I know, I am not going to lie to you, I am not going to say, ‘He’s not fit’ and then I play him — I would never do that — but, if I am certain or I don’t want to tell you, I will keep you guessing.”
These tactics with the pre-game rituals seem to fall into that category of not quite lying. Bringing a player to a game and having them carry in their wash bag and join the squad in the dressing room isn’t technically a formal confirmation of their fitness, but it’s often treated as such.
A few people running accounts on social media have made a habit of turning up at the team hotel and checking which players are with the squad on the day of a game.
So if Arteta didn’t bring any injured players along, those people would effectively be revealing the squad to Arsenal’s opponents a few hours early.
If fans aren’t going to respect the privacy of their own team, it seems fair enough that the manager and players might hit back with a little subterfuge.