Mikel Arteta has revealed he deliberately sabotaged elements of Arsenal's preseason in order to better prepare his players for the campaign ahead.
The Gunners boss is notorious for his innovative methods which have included playing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' on loudspeakers during training before travelling to Liverpool and hiring a pickpocket to steal from his squad during a team dinner to teach them alertness.
Arsenal's Champions League trip to Naples suffered complications on Tuesday as technical issues affecting airports across London forced a delay to the team's flight to Italy.
Although the Gunners were not unduly affected -- and went on to earn a deserved 1-0 win at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona -- Arteta said: "I love those challenges and I try to create them in preseason so when they happen, we already experience them and we are ready.
"So, get to the stadium very late, change the routine and suddenly the players have to do something else. It can happen, you can miss the flight, the train can be delayed, there is so much traffic, and I don't want the players and the staff panicking so when that happens, adapt to it.
"OK, we have another two, three hours on the plane, adapt to it. How can we use them? Play together, spend some time together, sleep, use it, but certainly don't complain and use it as an excuse because that's not helpful at all."
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Asked to provide further examples, Arteta continued: "Delay the meals, delay the transport, take a different route, we have done many things. Make the dressing room hotter, more challenging, less beds, those kind of things because we are going to have to adapt to different contexts.
"We try to anticipate it and create the best possible conditions but then when there is not that element of surprise or stress on matchday, that is important."
The Gunners have won all five matches so far this season and face Sunderland next at Stadium of Light on Saturday.
