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22nd December 2023
10:10am GMT
An old clip of Mikel Arteta using speakers to generate a loud atmosphere while his Arsenal players trained to prepare them for their game against Liverpool has gone viral again.
Arsenal travel to Anfield on Saturday in a top of the table clash knowing that they will spend Christmas Day top of the Premier League if they can avoid defeat.
Flash back to two seasons ago though and the story was a different tale.
At the time of their 2021-2022 visit, the Gunners were two points behind Jurgen Klopp's side in fifth as they attempted to secure a Champions League spot.
In order to prepare for the hostile atmosphere he was expecting, Arteta devised a plan.
As shown on the Amazon Prime 'All or Nothing' documentary, the Spaniard geed his players up with some words of encouragement, the Gunners boss asked for speakers to be brought out onto the training field.
With the Liverpool anthem 'You'll Never Walk Alone' ringing around their training ground, Arteta said: "Boys, mentally we start to play the game now. We are at Anfield.
"Suddenly I could only see red shirts flying around. 'The game was passing me by and I could not react. People must have been thinking 'what is he doing?'
"And I'm like, 'I cannot do it, physically, emotionally, I cannot cope because everything moves too fast.' And I only had the feeling in my career once and it was at Anfield."
The plan didn't work out entirely given that Liverpool won on the day but Klopp will be hoping that the Anfield atmosphere is up to his standards after he accused those who attended the midweek Carabao Cup win against West Ham of being 'flat'.
"We need Anfield on Saturday. Without Anfield, I would say – after they (Arsenal) didn’t play this week, they prepare for this game and anyone who knows a little bit about them, they will be prepared.
"If you really want, if it’s too much football in December, I don’t know. Sorry we have to play it as well. But if you are not in the right shape, give your ticket to somebody else."
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